Elliott's Nest

School Update

2012-01-22T19:09:00.001-05:00

Well, the truth is that I have been trying to write this post for the entire last 9 weeks of school. I have begun it several times when I think things are going smoothly and then each time I have been jolted back to reality and have discontinued my writing.

Let me be clear: it is not that school is completely terrible. It's just that I want it to be completely wonderful and it's just not.

Brendan is still doing an excellent job. He is extremely well-behaved and he really just loves school. His only sadness is that he only gets to go a couple days a week.

Aidan is doing quite well with all of the academic stuff. He loves to sit at the kitchen table and do "homework" which certainly doesn't hurt anything.

Since school started they hired an additional intervention specialist and aide, so they essentially doubled the staff. I can't complain about that either. There is an aide in his classroom with him most of the time, but there are also 3 kids with Down syndrome in there so it is sort of necessary.

Most of the time I get a note home from school telling me that Aidan had a great day. Sometimes he struggles with talking or making noises when he should be quiet and with touching friends. The notes are not so fun on those days.

At the end of November or beginning of December Aidan starting to goof off with another kid in his class. The kids' mom and I insisted that our kids be kept apart during class time and allowed to have fun at recess and lunch. The problems both kids are having in class have escalated since then and despite out insistence it was just last week when they finally started to separate them. Now we begin the process of "unlearning" some behaviors that have developed. This is an example of the frustration I have felt with this school year. I think we are all on the same page but the follow-through can be lacking. It is much harder for Aidan to "unlearn" something than to deal with it immediately. Perhaps they will learn their lesson on this one.

Mainly, I find that I dread the whole thing. I'm irritated that I have to send more emails and call more meetings. I dread opening the backpack after school and reading the note. To be absolutely honest, this is the first "bad" experience I have had in dealing with a child with special needs in the sense that it's the first one that keeps me up a lot of nights and has me dreading many years to come. Who knew school would be the thing? Okay, I kinda suspected it might be. I know for certain that there are ways I can make next year better and some things that are wrong can't be changed this year. But, you had better believe that if this crap is still going on in a few years I will be taking this to the next level or perhaps home-schooling by then.

So, there's my sob story and most likely the result of the fact that I am calling another meeting for next week. I keep trying to look at the bright side. Aidan is smart and is blossoming academically and socially. He is happy at school. Talking when he should be quiet is not really hurting anyone and he is nice to everyone. The problems are certainly minor. I'm sure from this post it may appear that I am over-reacting quite a bit, but I have only shared a few minor things here. The truth is that I really like all of Aidan's school team and much of the problem might simply be related to our "newness." I am new at this, the K teacher is new, and the intervention specialist is new in the situation we are in. There's certainly a learning curve. There are also a lot of people involved and it takes some work to be sure everyone is on the same page.

I hope some parent out there can tell me that it gets easier with time!!

In the news

2012-01-16T21:08:00.001-05:00

This little guy has been the big thing in the Down syndrome community over the last few weeks but I was thinking that the grandmas in my family probably have not seen it yet. Tonight he made the evening news. Check it out!!

The Nightly News

I first read about this little boy, Ryan, from a blog I enjoy...Noah's Dad. Noah's Dad hit the nail on the head. As a parent of a child with Down syndrome it is awesome to see a child with Down syndrome doing something completely normal and no one is making a big deal about it. I instantly purge $100 just by walking through the doors of Target, but now I have another reason to love that place. At Target, my kid will be treated just like all the others.

Ho Ho Ho

2012-01-06T16:02:00.000-05:00

We just had an amazing Christmas break at our house! I'm sad it's over in many ways, but it's good for the kids to get back into a routine. They were very happy to go back to school. Aidan asked me to go just about every day over break, and he wouldn't even take a break from school work. He sat at our kitchen table and did "work" for at least 2 hours per day over break, even on Christmas day! The crazy child!! As annoyed as I was about this on Christmas, it's good for him to stay in the habit of working so I let him do it as much as he wanted.

We started our break with the boys' Christmas party at school. Aidan managed to snag my camera and took a few photos of his own at the party - he got his teacher, Mrs. Thompson, and his two aides, Mr. Jeremy and Ms. Stephanie. I love school parties!! This particular party was very calm with some food and crafts.

We celebrate Christmas Eve at our house with a couple of fun activities for the kids. We always try to decorate our gingerbread house, and it was really fun this year. Scotte was working late so I had to do it myself this time. If you've ever seen a snowman or gingerbread house constructed by my husband, the engineer, then you will know that they are fairly perfect. I am not an engineer, plus I was trying my hardest to keep Liam from eating all the candy. Soooo, this house was constructed by the children, alone, and they did a marvelous job but it is nowhere near perfect. :) Liam ate so much candy, though, and did very little decorating.

When we visited Nana and Papa at Thanksgiving, we took the boys to visit Santa and they made some reindeer food for us to give to the reindeer on Christmas Eve. Well, my friend, Bethany, gave us the idea of constructing a runway for the reindeer out of paper chains and sprinkling the food there. The boys really got into that idea so we ran with it. I don't think they have much of a concept of how big a sleigh and all the reindeer would be, because our runway was fairly pathetic, but I guess that wasn't the point. They enjoyed doing this, though, so I think it will become part of our tradition.

Of course, after bath and stories we have to leave out cookies and milk for Santa. Yum!!

Last year Scotte and I stayed up half the night on Christmas Eve to set up the kids' fish tank. I was relieved to get to bed at a normal hour this year! I wasn't counting on Brendan waking up at 3:30 in the morning, though! The little guy was so excited to open presents. I let him climb into bed with us at that point because I could tell he was not going to go back to sleep. He bugged approximately every 10 minutes to find out how much longer he had to wait to go downstairs. Finally, at 6am, I let him wake up his brothers. Then, madness ensued!!

I think their favorite present was the Cars 2 Geo Trax set. We haven't stopped playing with it yet! It took Liam the ENTIRE day to open all of his presents. He was perfectly content with whatever his brothers were opening and he truly would have been happy with one new toy. I love 2 year olds!!

Well, I still haven't taken down our Christmas decorations or put away the new toys. This weekend is the time!! I guess I don't want the fun to end yet.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone!!

Elliott Christmas

2011-12-29T16:45:00.000-05:00

When I was a kid we celebrated Christmas on Christmas day. We got up and opened presents. Then we went and visited one set of grandparents before my other grandma came to our house to visit. We don't live close enough to our families to do this so our kids are quite used to celebrating one holiday or birthday for several days. We spent one weekend having Christmas with my family and then another celebrating with Scotte's family. It is quite fun to have so much Christmas.

I am pleased to report that there were no unexpected surprises of the puking variety during this visit. :) Scotte's brother and wife hosted us and it was an easy drive, the kids all played well together, and we left in good spirits.

The Elliott Cousins

The kids all gave each other books for presents and Nana and Papa got quite a bit of cooking gear. We came home with many Lego's and other fun toys.

As usual, some of the best photos were taken by Aidan. He loves to catch people eating or drinking.

Merry Christmas to the Elliott Family. Thanks for everything!!

Matthews Christmas

2011-12-27T14:42:00.001-05:00

I should title this post "A Very Pukey Christmas" except we had too much fun to call it that!

When we left home to visit my parents for Christmas everyone was doing well and we were all very excited to start our first Christmas celebration of the season. We didn't get out of Columbus until after dinner time and we fought some traffic out of town. Then, we were about an hour from our house (into a 2.5 hr drive) when we got stuck in non-moving traffic on the highway due to an accident. We were stuck for awhile when Aidan started puking. It was even less fun than it sounds because not only were we stuck on a highway with a puking child, but we were in a CAR. Not a van. A CAR. And Aidan was in the middle. Puking on his brothers. Who couldn't move out of the way. And did I mention we were stuck on the highway? And we were more than an hour from either our house or my parents except the cars were not moving. We managed to pull off the side of the road and get everything cleaned up as much as possible. We had a few blankets which we tried to use to drape over Aidan and contain the mess until we got to our destination. Once the traffic got moving again we made the executive decision to continue to my parents house. I'm sure they were thrilled we were arriving, but all I wanted was fresh air and a washing machine.

When Aidan gets a stomach virus he is practically comatose and will vomit every 10-15 mins for about 12 hours straight. He does this every time. This is exactly what he did at my parents house. He was sick all night and finally stopped around 5am. My poor baby. The next day he was a little low on energy and would not eat, but he was clearly feeling better. We all enjoyed a great Christmas celebration!! The kids were so excited to open their first presents of the season!

The kids liked to help me wrap the presents this year and they even managed to keep them secret.

My Dad and his gigantic bottle of Crown Royal

My Mom and her new Keurig

Of course, Aidan was feeling well enough on Saturday to take a few photos. He takes a few here and there that make me laugh.

We had a wonderful time with my parents and it always goes too quickly. Unfortunately, we did get my dad sick and I feel really badly about that. Sorry, Dad!! Maybe because the boys were all over him and my mom all weekend.

Aidan was feeling pretty good when we left my parents house. He was being his silly self again.

Wouldn't you know it that Brendan got sick in the car on the way home. Luckily we were only 20 mins from home and there was no traffic. Liam followed later that night. It was short for all 3 boys.

Thanks for everything, Mom and Dad!! Stay tuned for more Christmas to come!!

Thanksgiving Photos

2011-12-16T15:48:00.000-05:00

I kinda gave up on sorting through Thanksgiving photos (or any other photos for that matter). Aidan's reward for wearing his eye patch is getting to use my camera and take pictures. I am contemplating getting a separate memory card for him to use. For instance, he takes roughly 1,000 photos for every 100 I take. I had to delete hundreds of pictures of the following things just to find the few photos I took at Thanksgiving: dog puke, the toilet, about 400 photos of my Dad's Steelers shirt (often with his head cut off), people eating, Scotte coughing, diapers being changed, Grammy vacuuming, Aidan's feet, my sister's dog, football games on TV, and me and my mom and sister washing dishes. If I had a memory card for him I could just wipe it clean when he was done instead of searching for my pictures. I want to save a few that he takes here and there, but I don't need them all nor do I want to look through all of them. The best sequence I have from him is when he snuck into Liam's room while he was napping and snapped photos of the entire sequence of Liam waking and screaming. It's only amusing because I got him to go back to sleep.

Yep, that was a funny one...

Well, we had a fabulous Thanksgiving. We left Wednesday afternoon and got home Sunday night, so we had a busy holiday full of traveling, but overall it went extremely well. We visited with my family first and enjoyed our pie day. We have only one rule on Thanksgiving day: pie for breakfast!! And lunch. And snack. This year my mom made 2 apple pies, 2 pumpkin, 1 pecan, 1 cherry, 1 blueberry and 1 peach. We had to fight the boys for pie this year!! Brendan and my nephew, Jacob, seemed to enjoy it the most. Darn, I didn't even get a photo of the pumpkin pies.

The boys enjoyed playing with their cousins on the big day. the day after, my mom, sister and I took them all to see Santa and then a movie. We saw Puss in Boots and it was a big hit with everyone. We went to the theater early to get decent seats. Then, my sister and I left my mom with the 5 boys and went to round up snacks. The line was exceptionally long since it was a holiday and we had a mini panic-attack after waiting in line for a long time. My sister ran back to see if my mom needed help and the sweet little things were all sitting quietly in a row waiting for their popcorn. They laughed through the whole movie. Disclaimer: over 1,000 photos and I don't have a good one of my parents together. That's a bummer.

For the last part of the trip we visited Scotte's family. We took the kids to the playground and to see the Christmas lights and Santa again. They loved it! The part they keep talking about is when we made reindeer food after visiting Santa. They used oatmeal and glitter and the boys can't wait to sprinkle it outside on Christmas Eve. It will be fun! Brendan also enjoyed racing around the playground with Nana.

Happy belated Thanksgiving!

Sunny

2011-12-09T15:46:00.001-05:00

Every year at Christmas time we donate to a child through Reece's Rainbow. Reece's Rainbow is a Down syndrome adoption ministry which has helped find homes for more than 500 orphans. It costs a considerable amount of money to adopt one of these children and every dollar you donate helps bring a child home to her family. This year we are donating to Sunny. She was born recently and with a little help she can come home to a family quickly and not have to spend years in an orphanage. Just look at that little baby. She deserves a mommy to run to her when she cries and to comfort her and make her feel like everything is okay.

I look at all the blessings we have and all the "stuff" we have in our house and that Santa will be bringing soon. As I sit here hugging my sweet two year old, I can not help but wish the same for every child. Every child deserves a loving family. Please help save a life. Click on the link above and make your donation today.

Cuteness

2011-12-09T15:44:00.001-05:00

I finally found a hat that not only matches his coat, but that he will leave on his head. He is cute!

Dance Recital

2011-11-30T20:41:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I had the pleasure of seeing the costume for Brendan's next dance recital (June 2012). Yes, I just paid $80 for a hot pink sequined vest, bow tie and crazy black pants (the price jumped $20 from last year). Shhh, don't tell my husband. Brendan thinks I love the costume. I am reminding myself that dance is good for his social skills, coordination and self confidence. Plus he likes dance class. And he likes bouncing around in those noisy tap shoes. I just never pictured myself buying my son an $80 pink sequined vest. (For the record, I am not the mom who thinks boys can't wear pink or like dolls. They just can't like $80 pink things.)

Okay, I'm over it. Now, I'm still sorting through the 1000 photos that Aidan ~~and I~~ took over Thanksgiving and trying to delete the blurry ones. I'm also trying to decorate for Christmas and fight off this massive cold I am getting. Wish me luck!! Happy December!

Phone Dump

2011-11-29T13:21:00.001-05:00

I am finally processing all the photos from my cell phone that I have taken since August and it has been amusing to go through these. I use the camera to entertain Aidan at the bus stop or to take photos when I don't have my camera with me. My phone has quite possibly the worst camera ever, but sometimes I would rather have a bad picture than no picture at all.

Aidan's art project hanging at school

Brendan's dream car. We saw it in the parking lot at the library and he kept telling me that it was "so cool." I snapped a photo after laughing. He liked the rust and dents, too.

Here are some more random photos. I'm thinking you can figure out which ones Aidan was responsible for. There are a ton of photos of Aidan because he poses all the time and asks me to take his picture.

I have a lot of photos to catch up on from our Thanksgiving trip. More to come!

And so it begins...

2011-11-16T21:05:00.001-05:00

We did one hour yesterday and two hours today. He is taking it rather well and he gets to "play" with my camera and take pictures with it if he cooperates and leaves the patch on. He is not thrilled but not ripping it off either.

Vision Therapy ~ Ophthalmology Update

2011-11-10T22:54:00.001-05:00

I mentioned awhile ago that Aidan was going to start with vision therapy. We went into it feeling good but were soon disappointed on several fronts. First, it is not covered by our insurance and costs a whopping $79 for a 30 min session. Then, about 3 mins into Aidan's first session I realized that we were basically going to do OT with an eye patch on. There is nothing wrong with that except the price. We have had an amazing OT since Aidan was a baby and I would love to pay her $79 for 30 mins. I have also learned a lot about OT in the last 6 years and I could probably pay myself the cash and do the OT at home. With a 75 cent eye patch. With a little consulting from our adored OT, Miss Betsy. Then, we had a few problems with the place Aidan was getting the therapy, such as appointment changes without notice and other irritating things that are not the end of the world but are annoying enough to make you want to avoid them. Also, we have such a crazy schedule at the moment that it has been hard for us to follow through with the vision therapy every day at home. We have quite a bit of homework every night and I feel guilty patching his eye and making him work on things that are hard for him. I also feel guilty patching his eye during his few moments of free time since his schedule is so packed. Follow through has just been difficult and no changes are going to happen from only 30 mins per week.

So, long story short, it was Aidan's optometrist who recommended the vision therapy. She also refers us to an ophthalmologist once a year and given our unhappiness with the situation we wanted a second opinion on the situation from the doc. (For those who have no need to worry about vision, an ophthalmologist is a medical doctor completing the typical med school and residency while an optometrist is a Doctor of Optometry - I like to think of them as kinda like a Ph.D. Our optometrist is good, but she ain't no medical doctor. :) )

Aidan had his ophthalmology appointment last week and we had several things to discuss with her. First up was vision therapy. If Aidan needs vision therapy then I will not complain and I will just pay the money and find the time to squeeze it in every day. But since it has been making us miserable on several fronts, if he doesn't need it then I am ready to throw in the towel. So, the doc had good and bad news about this. She thinks vision therapy is a waste of money. That was the good news. The bad news is that she thinks he needs his eye patched for 6 hours per day for the next 3 months. (He has amblyopia caused by anisometropia.) We are going to try to do all the patching at home and not have to worry about it at school. I am trying to think long-term and not feel guilty for torturing him during homework or fun during the short-term.

We also talked to the doc about Aidan's frequent occurrences of pink eye. He had it 8 times last winter and has had it twice so far since school started. She thinks this is a result of his narrow tear ducts. When he gets inflammation in his nasal passages then his tear ducts do not drain properly and there is a back flow into the eyes. Probably the best thing that came from this appointment is that I now have eye drops on hand and do not have to run to the pediatrician every time he gets an eye infection.

So, the patches should be arriving in the mail shortly and the fun will begin. We have discontinued vision therapy. We will be seeing the doc again in February. Every ophthalmology appointment we have ever been to for Aidan has lasted for 3-4 hours, so I will admit that I am not looking forward to going 4 times per year. Our last appointment was pretty miserable at times (a few days after the time change, during nap time with a crazy 2 year old).

We have also decided that with all of Aidan's vision complications we are switching to the ophthalmologist for all appointments. We switched to the optometrist back in the day when we were frustrated with these never-ending ophthalmology appointments. They seriously go on for hours. But, there is no point in doing both. We are happy to be back with Dr. Cassady, who was Aidan's original eye doc from back when he was 6 months old.

Wish us luck!! A new adventure is about to begin!

Dougherty Cabin Weekend

2011-11-05T23:02:00.001-04:00

Dougherty Family ~ 2011

We spent Halloween weekend with my mom's side of the family to enjoy our 2nd annual Dougherty Family Cabin Weekend. We were brave and spent the night this year. Liam doesn't wake as early as he used to, but with all of us sleeping in the same room you can bet your britches that when he wakes up the rest of us are soon to follow. I sure hope that we were able to keep quiet enough at 6am that we didn't wake up everyone else at the cabin.

We had a fabulous time yet again. The biggest challenge was knowing where all three of my children were at the same time. Since we were together over Halloween weekend we had a lot of activities for the kids. Planning activities is not my talent, so many thanks to my cousins and sister for their creative ideas.

The kids loved the weekend!! There was so much excitement. Besides getting to run around with the other kids, play games, go trick-or-treat-ing and eat too much candy, the boys got to sit on a horse. The lady who has the farm next to the property was lovely and let the kids pet her animals and feed them before she went and got one of her horses for the kids to sit on. They were in heaven!! At least in our world, it's not every day you get to sit on a horse.

Aidan

Brendan

Glenn

Liam

Jacob

We look forward to next year and hope that ~~our kids~~ Liam will learn to sleep a little later.

I love my family and it was so nice to see everyone :)

Happy Halloween!!

2011-11-04T17:01:00.001-04:00

The kids were so excited for Halloween this year. We had a great time. It was a strange day with a lot of weird storms including pelting hail followed by gorgeous rainbows. I wasn't sure if the weather would hold out for trick-or-treat. While it was very damp, the rain stayed away while the kids were out.

My Clifford and two Dinosaurs

The photos of Liam above are the only two I have of him from trick-or-treat. He had a string of 3 days where he didn't get a nap and let's just say that he had a lot of "two year old" moments during our outing. We all enjoyed ourselves, but he made it hard work at times. :) Things are getting back to normal this week and he hasn't missed a nap since Monday.

the boys in front of a "spooky" house

Brendan running through the fog

Some houses in our neighborhood were really fun with lots of very creepy decorations and fog. The boys love that kind of thing right now. Thanks to Nana for the special bags the boys used to collect their treats.

Happy Halloween everyone!!

School Party

2011-10-31T21:32:00.000-04:00

The boys had their school Halloween party last week and I was even more excited to attend than I had been in preschool. In preschool I almost felt like I knew every move they made. I was able to volunteer in the classroom and interact with the kids. I knew the names of all the preschoolers within a few weeks and it was a very comfortable environment. Kindergarten is a whole new ballgame!! I still wouldn't recognize half of their classmates and they are having very long, exciting days.

Long story short, I should have just stuck with my first sentence. I was excited to attend the Halloween party at school.

Mrs. Thompson was the most PERFECT Snow White I have ever seen. Aidan was mesmerized; she had to keep reassuring him that she was really Mrs. Thompson. I was impressed.

Because of our wacky Kindergarten schedule, it was only the Kindergarten students having their party that day, but the other classes still came out to watch the kids in their parade.

The parade was followed by cupcakes and games. Aidan enjoyed the game where you have to balance an eyeball on a spoon and walk around with it; Brendan is still talking about the straw game they played. I really have no idea what was going on because I was busy trying to convince Liam to stay in the stroller. I lucked out that the the speech therapist at school, Mrs. Ryan, was there and she helped Aidan the entire time. Liam was a handful!! He calmed down once we discovered the Halloween books and I was able to read to him while the boys played.

Happy Halloween! The kids were all so cute and I can't wait to get back to school again.

Jack

2011-10-28T22:34:00.001-04:00

Liam has decided that all pumpkins are named "Jack." I guess that is pretty fitting; I see his logic.

We spent a lot of time with "Jack" last weekend. I will admit that carving pumpkins is not my forte, but Scotte hasn't been around for a few weeks due to work so I was on my own. I decided that one carved pumpkin was probably adequate. :) I feel like I have to do at least one every year so we can have some seeds. I LOVE pumpkin seeds. Last year Brendan was the only one who got his hands dirty; interestingly, this year he thought it was gross but Liam and Aidan both participated I can never predict!!

Liam wants to carry the "baby" pumpkin around a lot and it is getting really gross!! He will be heartbroken when it disappears.

Stuff

2011-10-20T15:19:00.000-04:00

Things are always a little crazy at our house and I just don't seem to have time to blog very much lately. I find myself reading about a lot of things and worrying about them, instead. Between worrying about stuff going on at our own house and school or the state of the country and world, and worrying about crazy things like the animals running around Zanesville or about the fate of bats and bees and coffee and chocolate, I find myself feeling really down about the state of everything. Yes, that sentence might not have made any sense. Sorry. Sometimes I just need to step away from everything and focus on the things I have power over. Today I was looking through our recent photos and it cheered me up. Then, we got great news from school (that is an entirely different blog post), so I am feeling good today.

We have been coloring, reading, dinosaur-playing, Lego-building fools lately. Aidan is still either taking photos or asking me to take photos of specific things, so a lot of these photos are a result of that. I can't wait until Santa brings him his camera!!

Aidan reading to baby

Brendan and Liam reading together

Aidan and Nana

the boys did it!!

My boys being creative

School Dance-a-thon

Monarch in our backyard

Fall!!

2011-10-16T20:59:00.000-04:00

I love the autumn, and I love taking photos of the kids with our pumpkins every year! The weather today was better than I was anticipating,but we had clouds on and off and I found it difficult to get the nice, sunny pictures I usually love. All 3 boys actually cooperated for a change, though!!

Aidan

Brendan ~ I wish I could have gotten light like this in every photo!!

Liam

When they weren't officially posing for me they were swinging, jumping in leaves and RUNNING. Brendan told me today that he can run for 8 hours. I believe him.

It was a good weekend. We even had the windows open today to savor these awesome fall days. One day this week when the boys are at school and Liam is napping, I am going to sit on my porch, enjoy the silence and drink a cup of coffee. Happy fall, everyone.

Pelee Island

2011-10-13T15:18:00.000-04:00

Scotte and I own a little piece of property on Pelee Island, and we had some work to do there so we went last weekend. Alone. Without kids. It was the first time we have been away alone since before I was even pregnant with Liam and he is now two! We were working much of the time but it was still nice to be alone.

We started with a Friday evening of fun in Windsor, Ontario. We had to catch the ferry on Saturday morning so we spent Friday evening close by. We stayed at the Windsor Hilton and it was GREAT!! Our view from the 21st floor was outstanding! Much better than the Comfort Inn that we usually stay in with the kids. Oh, and we went out for Thai food. It was soooo good that we would have stopped there to eat again on the way home if we had enough time.

So, after a relaxing Friday night we caught the ferry to Pelee and went to work. It wasn't looking too pretty when we got there. Our mission was to assemble a storage shed, but first we had to locate the ground.

The air was thick with mosquitoes and we were swimming in poison ivy. The great thing about a small community like Pelee is that we talked to a neighbor who promptly made a phone call and located the dude with the tractor who could clear our property in 15 mins flat. Too bad we didn't find him until AFTER we spent a couple of hours digging up/ hacking at plants.

Much better! The property on Pelee is quite lovely, and if you cross the road then you are at a very beautiful, sandy beach. I hope our kids will get to spend many summers playing on that beach. Someday we will perhaps build something but this time we camped, which was great minus the mosquitoes!!

We worked hard but didn't quite finish our task before we had to catch the ferry returning home. Scotte will have to go finish the shed without me. :(

We managed to squeeze in dinner at the winery. That was not optional. It was a pleasant experience, as always. I love that place!!

Well, Pelee Island, until we meet again...

Thank you, Grammy, for taking amazing care of my littles :)

The Bearded Man

2011-10-04T21:12:00.000-04:00

Back in the day Aidan was shy around just about everyone he met. While outgoing with Scotte and myself, he was even fairly shy around grandparents and other very familiar people. Late last spring I started having trouble with Aidan wanting to talk to men. Bearded men, in particular. But, he didn't care if the man looked like this...

or like this...

My concern heightened a little over the summer when he began to branch out to just about any man he met. If we ran into a poor, unsuspecting dad at the park then this dad was Aidan's new best friend. If we ran into the 17 year old teenager at Children's Hospital escorted by his security team while sporting his cool orange jumpsuit, then Aidan was sure they could be buddies. Some men have been very gracious about the whole thing, while you can tell that others just don't want to be bothered. Not to mention the fact that I would prefer that Aidan not try to go home with some crazy pedophile. Of all things, why can't Aidan be obsessed with little gray-haired grandmas instead??? Not only does Aidan say hello to these men (repeatedly), but he also touches their arms, or goes after their ears. EARS, of all things?!! I've never been embarrassed by Aidan, but lately this behavior has been embarrassing me as I am not the type to want to talk to every man I encounter and now I have to apologize to all of them for my 6-year old touching them. Or inadvertently pulling out their gray ear-hair.

So, does anyone have any ideas on how to address this problem?

Velvet Ice Cream

2011-10-01T14:02:00.000-04:00

Last weekend we visited the Velvet Ice Cream Factory after we picked apples at the orchard. It was right down the road from the orchard and the kids were ready for lunch, so it was an ideal spot for a little picnic. I didn't realize it was so quaint and picturesque. Plus, the ice cream is really good!! There was a playground, petting zoo, and a local wildlife center had some animals there for the kids to see up close: a screech owl, barred owl, flying squirrels and a kestrel. The factory itself wasn't too exciting, but the rest of the experience was delightful. Not too far from home, either!!

We had pumpkin ice cream, coconut almond ice cream and root beer floats. Sooo good!!

Apple Picking

2011-09-26T22:02:00.000-04:00

It's my favorite time of year!! I love sipping steamy coffee on these cool mornings and leaving the windows open all day. I love hearing the kids run in and out of the porch and having the door wide open. I love the fall colors and the apple cider and pumpkins and mums and the sound of crunching leaves. And, I love taking the kids to the orchard to pick apples.

We had so much fun at the orchard we visited last year so were all set to go again. Then, I tried to look up their hours online and read that the owner passed away last winter and the orchard is no longer open to the public. We are very sad as this orchard was practically perfect, and we wish our condolences to the family.

I almost felt like we were not meant to pick apples this year because after the sad news about our first orchard we decided upon another only to turn up and find that the orchard had a complete crop failure and there were no apples to pick (something that perhaps they should have noted on their website). So, while we wondered if we should tempt fate with a third try we finally made it to Branstool Orchards. It was quite pleasant. We were trying to avoid the major tourist traps. We just wanted some trees and apples. Just something simple.

We got exactly what we were looking for. I can't even tell you how much the kids enjoy this excursion, and I swear they would live on apples alone all week now if I would let them. We had a perfect Sunday adventure. Now it's time for me to make some pies!! I only wish my grandma was around to make the crust (although my mom's crust is a pretty close second). Mine will be from Pillsbury :) Happy apple-picking, everyone!!

Brendan's Portraits

2011-09-26T06:59:00.000-04:00

Brendan just turned 5 so it is portrait time!! I'm not in love with his "cheese" face at the moment, but the photographer was decent and managed to get a few poses that I like.

Team Aidan

2011-09-20T15:19:00.000-04:00

This year Aidan walked in his 7th Buddy Walk!! We kept it low key this year and had an awesome time!! Our team include some of our family and some friends from town who have walked with us nearly every year. We had glorious weather and couldn't have asked for a nicer day. This was the first time I ever walked around and did things with the kids instead of staying at the tent. There were a lot of fun activities, including a balloon artist, a tattoo station, and a real fire truck.

My boys were thrilled to run into their Kindergarten teacher at the walk. I'm pretty sure they think she lives at school! :)

My Buddy Walk Boys

Fire Truck!!

Playing a game

Daddy sets up

The boys get ready to walk

Crew Stadium

Aidan and Brendan with Mrs. Thompson (and Mr. Thompson)

Aidan playing a guitar he found (was this from your team, Mary??)

Miss Ava

Thanks to everyone who supported our team this year. We love you!!

P.S. Blogger has made some changes so if things look strange it's because I have no idea what I'm doing yet. If you only knew how hard it was for me to get these photos up here....and I can't fix the probs I am having yet.

Crazy Hair

2011-09-14T06:00:00.001-04:00

Liam has always had some seriously weird hair. On one side of his head he has a ton of hair, and he is still practically bald on the other. Then his hair has this very strong tendency to swirl to the left side of his head. That's one reason why I don't mind if he wears a hat everywhere. I have tried giving him haircuts like his brothers, but it always just looks like a really bad haircut. I did what I thought I would never do: I took the clippers to his hair. Voila. Problem solved (for now). He may never be able to have a proper haircut at this rate, and I'm the mom who loves HAIR and not a buzz cut on my boys. Oh, well, we can't have everything. It's just hair.

Before...

After...

think before you speak

2011-09-13T20:49:00.003-04:00

This was floating around on Facebook today and it really moved me.

I dislike this word so much, and especially for one reason: at this point Aidan can't even defend himself. There are many people with disabilities who can not. Those of us who can need to be their voice.

Happy Birthday, Brendan!!

2011-09-10T21:17:00.006-04:00

Happy birthday to my sweet Brendan!! Brendan turned 5 on September 8, and I have never seen a child so excited in my entire life. This birthday was really fun for me as a mom because it was the first time one of the kids seemed really interesting in hearing details about their birth. Not the icky ones, I promise, but the fun ones. For instance, Brendan was fascinated to hear that he was born in the middle of the night and that his cousin, Jacob, saw him being born (Jacob was not even two months old at the time so praise the lord he won't remember anything).

Brendan woke me up at 5am because he was just so darn thrilled to be turning 5. I made him stay in bed with me until Liam woke up but he did not fall back to sleep. Then, he helped me put icing on the cupcakes he was taking to school that day. He just couldn't believe that he got to go to school on his birthday. BEST. PRESENT. EVER.(....so says Brendan). He got to have lunch at school with his friend, Jay, and Jay gave him a nickel. AWESOME.(....so says Brendan).

It was a great day. We celebrated with presents and cake after school and spent an evening together as a family (those are rare these days with Scotte working all the time). My only disappointment of the day was the cake. I use a local cake lady to make our cakes lately, but Brendan really wanted a Cars 2 cake with a plastic car on it. I knew they did not have these at Giant Eagle, so to appease him I let him go and see for himself thinking I could then go ahead and order from my cake lady. Well, he saw a cool dinosaur cake he wanted instead so I went ahead and ordered it. Lo and behold I received a phone call an hour before I was due to pick up the cake telling me that the machine that puts the dinosaur print on the cake was broken. We ended up with a cake with a plastic dinosaur from the dollar store on it because , I assure you, the boy wanted his dinosaur cake!! Actually, the cake was delicious and probably tasted better than the cakes from the cake lady, but I was disappointed in the decoration. Oh, well, Bren was happy and he was the birthday boy!It is really so hard to figure out how these years go so quickly. I was looking back at some early photos and ran across some sweet photos of Aidan and Brendan together. Aidan was just 1-1/2 yrs old at the time and I can see how I really had two babies on my hands. They were so sweet and it's sad that it's hard to remember some of the details of those times. I just want to slow down time and savor these moments before my babies are grown.
Happy 5th birthday to my big boy. In our home Brendan is very much the older brother at times and he is an awesome role model for his brothers. We love you, baby!!

Look!!

2011-09-06T15:18:00.001-04:00

My cute Liam.

"Look! Up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Nooo. It's Super Grover!!!"

6 AM

2011-08-29T21:01:00.003-04:00

This is what 6am has been looking like again lately...but at least it doesn't hurt for me to be up early to get the kids ready for school. The problem is that I end up at the bus stop in my pajamas because I'm not getting up at 5:30am to shower. No thank you. Well, sometimes I throw on a pair of jeans but I'm not fooling anyone. Someday I'll be waking him up for school, right?

Strike a Pose (and Kindy update)

2011-08-26T21:29:00.006-04:00

Aidan's latest favorite thing is posing for pictures. He will find his props, then ask me to take his picture...and he does this about 300 times per day.

I enjoy it and these photos make me laugh out loud because I think about how he examines each one after I take it and admires himself. I know we are going to buy him his own camera for Christmas so he will stop trying to take mine.

Several people have asked me how school is going for the boys. Brendan is just loving it but is having a difficult time with the schedule. He can't understand why he doesn't go to Kindergarten every day. We have a color coded calendar that shows his Kindergarten days in blue and the other group of kids in yellow, so he can visually see what is going on. But, like many of us, he doesn't understand why it has to be so complicated!! HE can't wait for his next day of school.

Aidan loved his first day of school and I am told he is doing well. I wish I could be a fly on the wall and see what is going on, though. There has been a lot of turmoil involving school these past few weeks. The main thing is that the school district opened a new elementary school this year and many staff members from our school left to go to this new building. We lost the principal, the intervention specialist from the cognitive disabilities learning center, and all of the Kindergarten teachers. So, there is a lot of learning that all of our new people need to do and there isn't anyone left who has experience dealing with what is going on. They somehow need to organize the schedules of 16 children with cognitive disabilities, 6 of whom are in Kindergarten with the insane every-other-day schedule, with the two new teachers (3 kids with disabilities in each class). So far it has been a logistical nightmare. I can tell they are trying very hard. I have gotten at least 4 or 5 calls from the principal in the last 2 weeks and I have spoken to her in person just as many times. The teacher is young and ambitious and she will be great with the kids, but she really doesn't know much about IEP's yet. I can tell she is interested in learning, though. I remain optimistic about half of the time, and the other half I am in tears at this point. I'm just hoping everything comes together soon. There are really a lot of kids in Kindergarten and so many new people. They don't have a handle on the kids needs yet. I've also had very dramatic emotions...at times I'm worried they are switching the kids Kindergarten days and I am going to have to reorganize every therapy appointment we have scheduled; then I'm worried we are switching Kindergarten teachers and I will have to get Aidan prepped all over again; then I'm worried because they think Aidan should go 5 days a week; then I'm worried because they are trying to pull him from class when they shouldn't be; then Aidan wouldn't even touch his lunch the first day; before school even started I had to make what felt like a trillion phone calls to track down a harness (seat belt) for the bus; then the bus shows up on the wrong day, etc., etc., etc.. This will all get figured out soon and will hopefully be a distant memory. I only hope Aidan makes it through!! Like I said, they are making a real effort. I'm sure the principal doesn't have to be calling me every day, right?? The good news is that the kids probably don't realize what Scotte and I are going through, except I have spent many hours on the phone this week and Brendan doesn't miss a trick. He hasn't asked any questions about it yet, though!

Well, that is my school update in a very condensed form. I don't want to go into too many details, but I'm trying to convey a little of the confusion going on. Wish us all luck!!

Aidan and Brendan Go to Kindergarten: First Day of School!!

2011-08-25T07:02:00.002-04:00

This morning I put my two "babies" on the bus. They were beyond excited!! I think they are well prepared for school. We'll see if the school is well prepared for them!! We have visited the school several times, met the teachers, toured the library and played on the playground. I made them each a photo album with pictures of all the things we saw at school and they have been looking at those for several days. Brendan already knows what days to expect art, music, gym and library. He is thrilled to get to play on the playground two times while at school this year.

The biggest problem I had this morning is that Aidan picked his own outfit. He insists upon doing this every day and usually it doesn't matter too much. But, I want him to be super cute for school. He INSISTED he was wearing Brendan's Hot Wheels shirt, which is charcoal gray with red and white writing. However, he paired it with plaid shorts which are tan, cream and olive green. Somehow I was able to get him to change into denim shorts before the bus came. Even though it was certainly not the shirt I would have picked it is good that he is being independent.

The kids were settled in when I left the school this morning and I got to watch them in gym class a little bit. Aidan was sticking to Brendan like glue! I'm sure they will both branch out once they know the other kids.

I can't even begin to describe the emotional roller coaster of the last few weeks trying to get everything in place for Aidan's first day (Brendan's, too, but obviously things are a little more complicated for Aidan). It has not been smooth sailing; my friend and I have both commented that we feel like our emotions can not be normal and we need medication!! However, I feel like our school has a great principal and the teachers seem highly motivated. I am hoping the details will all be figured out in the next few weeks and it will be smooth sailing from here.
(See Brendan's face above where he is posing with his teacher? Whenever I ask him to smile for the camera lately this is what I get!)

Sesame Place 2011

2011-08-20T22:42:00.033-04:00

There is only one word to describe our day at Sesame Place .... WET!!

We did have a lot of fun, and that's what matters the most. We only had one day to spend there because Scotte is super busy with his new job and he had to be back at work. Next year we plan to go again and we will be spending several days. The park has a lot of rides and a lot of water activities, so we would like to plan a "dry" day and a "wet" day for next year. I'm not sure yet what it would be like to be dry at Sesame Place, but we weren't wet from the water rides. We were wet from the pelting rain. It actually rained hard the entire time we were there. The good news is that we didn't have to wait in line at all. Of course, Sesame Place is extremely friendly for kids with disabilities and Aidan wore a special bracelet that would have allowed us to bypass lines...if there were lines. This happens to be a huge perk to having a child with a disability. Most amusement parks have a similar policy, and frankly we probably wouldn't be able to go otherwise. Thank you!! So, while it was nice to not have the crowds and lines, it probably would have been okay either way. However, we spoke to a family who had been there the day before and they said it was so crowded you could barely move with 2-hour waits for most rides. I can't say I'm sad we missed that. When we were there it was pretty relaxing and the kids didn't have to have our hands the entire time. So, our kids woke up with fevers and the rain was coming down hard. We loaded up on ibuprofen and then hit a store for some ponchos and a few waterproof bags (if you're ever desperate check the "Sporting Goods" section). Then we were set to go. We get the most awesome parents award for dragging our feverish kids around in the rain all day.Aidan knew we were going to "Sesame Street," but it was priceless to see his face light up when he saw the Christmas display at the entrance. I wish we lived nearby so we could visit the Christmas events they have going on. We spent at least 8 months last year watching either "Elmo's Christmas Countdown" or "Sesame Street Christmas Carol." Aidan knew we were finally in the right place.We met a lot of characters but we found it difficult to get good pictures with the rain pouring down. We saw Bert and Ernie, Telly, Prairie Dawn, Abby, Zoe, Cookie Monster, Count, etc., but this is our best picture from outside. We were so glad we had plans for dinner with Elmo and friends!

Luckily there were several shows for us to go see and for the most part we were under cover for these events. The "Elmo's World" show was even indoors and we were able to take a break from our raincoats and dry out.The shows were very cute and much fun was had by all. Plus, the crowd was super tiny so we were up close and personal. I love this soggy looking photo of us in Elmo's World. Brendan had already changed into his dry shorts so his clothes don't even match, Scotte and I both have soaking wet legs and knees and I think we were all shivering (something I almost forgot about during our recent heat wave).Many rides were closed but we snuck in a few. We were able to ride the roller coaster, the tea cups, the carousel and one water ride. The lack of riding was quite disappointing. We rode for awhile, then had a quick lunch and discovered that most rides were closed. We saw that many water rides were still open, and logic told us that a little rain made no difference to a water ride. So, we changed our soaking wet selves into swimsuits and hiked over to the water rides only to discover there was only one ride open. They had closed most of the rides while we were changing. Liam had fallen asleep in the stroller at this point, and Aidan was so cold he was blue. I took those two back and very carefully dried and reassembled all of our bodies back into our semi-waterproof states while Scotte and Brendan rode the water ride several times. Phew, that was not worth it but Brendan was hysterical that they closed the water rides and we could barely console him. After he and Scotte had their fill of riding, we got him warm and somewhat dry again only to discover the poor boy had another raging fever coming on. So sad.

If you watch this little video of the carousel, and you think it looks like we are the only people on the carousel, well that's because we were...I am so grateful that we booked dinner with Elmo and friends. It was dry in there and it was by far our best photo opportunity of the day.

All of the characters loved on the kids and each sang a song. At the end Elmo sang and the kids all danced around the room with him. The kids loved it!! They closed the park early that day, but luckily they didn't cancel the dinner. The room was only half full so we had ample opportunity to enjoy the characters.

We were all really worn out after this day from battling the water, but we feel that overall it was worth it. The kids experienced several rides, lots of shows, many characters, and they ended with buying prizes in the shop. Aidan immediately picked a large Super Grover; Liam chose a small Snuffy and small Super Grover, and Brendan picked a hat and mug (he likes to drink tea and hot chocolate with me).I think that even if Brendan has completely outgrown Sesame Street by next year (the characters are still rock stars in our house between Aidan and Liam) he will still love the rides and water attractions at the park. We plan to head back next year and hope for better weather. This weather still allowed us to have a good introduction to the park without the crowds. Fortunately the kids didn't realize what they were missing out on with many things being closed.

Buddy Walk 2011 ~ Team Aidan

2011-08-20T09:39:00.008-04:00

I am so behind in letting people know about the Buddy Walk this year! Partly it's because Scotte and I have decided to do things a little differently. We have been amazed at the support we have received over the years, but in these tough times we feel badly asking our friends and family to donate every single year. It cost our little family over $100 to register for the Buddy Walk this year; we think that's a lot and Aidan is ours!!! So, after much discussion, we have changed our game plan a little bit. We have decided to go all out for the Buddy Walk every other year and have our big tailgate and hound our friends and family to join us. So, this year we have registered our team and we are walking as a family, but we won't be making it a huge event. Next year we will be back in the game, and then the following year we will take it easy again.

That said, we welcome anyone who wants to participate to join us and register to walk with Team Aidan. We will be walking together and then letting the kids participate in all the activities and stopping by to chat with some of the friends in our Down syndrome community. Anyone is more than welcome to join us on September 18 at Crew Stadium as we celebrate Aidan this year, but we won't be having a tent or tons of food. I am late, and registration needs to be completed by the end of Sept 4 to guarantee you will have a shirt! (View event day information here)

I know that Scotte and I make charitable contributions every year, and I'm sure many of you do, as well. If you are still looking to make donations this year, we think making a donation to Team Aidan would be a very worthy cause!! Your donation helps fund the following things:

$100 will fund two New Parent Packets for parents who have a newly-diagnosed baby with Down syndrome.
$200 will fund a full recreational scholarship to enable a person with Down syndrome to participate in health and fitness activities to improve their quality of life.
$250 will enable a self-advocate to attend our Adult Mini-Conference.
$300 will fund a workshop for parents on a topic such as IEPs or potty training.
$500 will fund materials, babysitting and refreshments for a DSACO support group for one year.
$1,000 will fund a presentation to health care providers on diagnosis delivery through our Changing Lives program.

We would also love for you to consider donating to another Down syndrome organization that has become very near and dear to our hearts: Buddy Up Tennis!! Nearly every Saturday morning you can find Aidan on the tennis court with his tennis buddy having a fabulous time, and learning tons of skills to boot. They work not only on tennis skills, but Buddy Up tennis has pretty much replaced physical therapy for Aidan as they work on many types of fitness activities. He is learning a life skill and having a great time doing it. This program is equally important in enriching the lives of all the young men and women who volunteer their time every weekend to work with so many of our friends in the Down syndrome community.

Buddy Up Tennis is completely run and funded by volunteer and charitable contributions, and your donation is tax deductible. Just $50 sponsors an athlete for an entire month, and any donation is welcome. Please check out their website!!

Donate to Buddy Up Tennis

As always, thank you for supporting Aidan!!

Hershey's Chocolate World

2011-08-17T07:50:00.009-04:00

At the end of last week we set out for round two of our vacation. Liam had been sick with a fever early in the week, and then Brendan had a fever for a day but it was short so I assumed it was from the vaccinations he just had. When we left everyone was seemingly healthy. Well, Aidan and Brendan both got sick a day into our trip. It was just a fever, but I never know what to do. I'm not trying to whine about having sick kids because that just comes with the territory, but I'm not the type to take my kids places when they are sick. Thus, I have huge amounts of guilt that I just took them to a few places loaded with kids while they were feverish. So, what do you do? How do you handle it when you take time off work, have already left on vacation, have hotel rooms and park tickets and dinner with Elmo already booked, and your kids get sick? Do you go and make the best of it or do you call it a day and head home? I'm conflicted here so I want someone to verify that I am not a horrible germ-spreading person...because we just went ahead and made the best of it when perhaps we should have stayed inside avoiding people.

Our first tourist attraction was Hershey's Chocolate World. Such fun! However, I have never been somewhere so crowded in my entire life. I actually feared for the safety of my children. We couldn't bring a stroller in, and Liam has to do everything"self." It was a battle to carry him through there, but he was not allowed to walk for fear that he would be crushed.The tour was impressive and I have a new respect for the Hershey name. I am not a fan of a plain old Hershey bar, but I raid the Halloween baskets and steal every Reese's Cup and Kit Kat I can find. I can't deny that I'm a Hersheys fan!!

We finished our tour with some delicious milkshakes. They seemed to taste very good to our sick kids. I wonder how many people we infected in that crowded place!! So sad!
Brendan has been talking a lot about the concept of a "factory" now. He has been making tomato factories and airplane factories while playing this week.

Stay tuned for pics from Sesame Place!!

Safari

2011-08-09T08:30:00.008-04:00

After our successful trip to Pelee Island we spent a morning swimming at our hotel before heading out on safari. We visited the African Safari Wildlife Park in Port Clinton, Ohio. This was interesting to say the least. On one hand, it wasn't exactly my cup of tea. I usually feel terrible when I see animals in this type of environment. Since having kids I do a little better with this type of situation because I can see their excitement when they realize how large and amazing these animals are in the real world. It is certainly a great opportunity for kids to see these animals up close and have positive interactions with them. I can only hope it means they will appreciate these animals as they get older.
We really enjoyed the safari park. We spent the first hour on the drive-through safari where we and many other cars of people offered alfalfa pellets or carrots to a bunch of very hungry large animals. It was interesting to see these animals so closely. They were not shy at all.

Then we enjoyed a picnic and saw a few more animals before the kids got to ride a pony and a camel. Liam was too short and he was extremely disappointed. I felt awful because I think he would have enjoyed this part more than anyone.Unfortunately, our camera was on some strange setting during the animal rides and we didn't notice until afterwards. Oh, well. We plan to take the kids back to this park sometime when it is cooler and possibly less crowded because they loved the whole experience. We don't have most of these animals at the Columbus Zoo, so it was perfect for my little animal lovers. After this my little travellers slept on the entire drive back to Columbus....a fabulous end to our weekend getaway.

Car, Boat, Bike, and Plane

2011-08-07T12:19:00.016-04:00

We decided to take two long weekends for vacation this year instead of one big vacation since my husband recently started a new job. The only real negative of this strategy is that he couldn't get the time off until now, so our weekends are back-to-back. We're basically home for long enough to unpack, do laundry and pack again. Throw a few appointments and workdays in the middle and it will be a hectic few days this week.

We just returned from our adventure to Pelee Island. This is a perfect place to get away from everything. There are very few cars, sandy beaches and the peace and quiet of nature.

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Our trip began with a drive to Sandusky. Luckily this was fairly uneventful minus the repeated questions of "Are we there yet?" or "How many more minutes?"

The kids were so excited to take the ferry to Pelee Island. It was Brendan's first time on a boat, and none of them have been on a boat as large as this one. I should have packed a jacket for everyone because it was windy and cool on the ferry, but I did not anticipate this on a 90 degree day! We took turns walking around with the kids to let them stretch because the ferry ride was almost two hours long. They giggled and laughed the whole time!We spent a relaxing evening walking around Pelee and enjoying the winery and the beautiful sunset. There is something about being near water where you MUST watch the sunset (or sunrise depending on where you are). I think it's mandatory and it refreshes your soul...Plus, we watched that sunset with a flock of cedar waxwings. What could be more perfect than that?Time to switch to a new mode of transportation. We didn't bring our car on the ferry, but we still needed to get around the island. We had the absolute best time riding bikes around the island. It was very hot but we had some breezes coming off the lake. The kids were angels!! We were worried that it could go either way, but we all loved it and had such a great time. I can't wait to do this again. Aidan had a slight problem with motion sickness early on, but we stopped for a break and cooled him off and gave him a snack. He didn't have any problems the rest of the day. We let the big boys take turns riding alone and they each enjoyed not being bothered by little brother. Aidan and Liam were even able to sneak in a nap.We absolutely relaxed on Pelee Island. We didn't feel stressed out chasing the kids around because there were no crowds. We had fresh air, sandy beaches, wine from the winery, sunshine, the sound of the water, and did I mention wine from the winery? When can we go back??We packed very lightly for this trip. We had no car and only bikes for transportation. So, yes, we let the kids play in the water in their underwear. There were very few people around so it didn't matter!

Scotte and I loved the winery. The wine was excellent (or we are really easy to please - either way it's all good, right?). There was a playground for the kids and adorable little eating areas inside humongous barrels. What kid wouldn't love that? They loved seeing the grapevines and walking around outside. We also had the best luck with a little bakery we found. While eating a light lunch, the kids started playing with two adorable little girls. One was almost five and the other almost two, so they were perfect playmates for the kids. Their mom ran the bakery and we got to talking about what it was like to live on Pelee Island. Well, long story short, she eventually told us that when she was in college she lived with a young woman with Down syndrome and they are great friends. I tell you, it's a small world. She gave us a few books to borrow written by this young ladies family and I can't wait to read them. We know where to go next time we go back to the island. The kids had a great time playing together and their mom was lovely to talk to. Plus she sold iced coffee and samosas. :) We decided to take an airplane home from the island instead of the ferry. It gave us many extra hours on the island since the ferry leaves so early in the day but our flight left in the evening. This airplane ride was probably the highlight of the trip for both Aidan and Brendan. Check out Aidan's face during take-off. He was ecstatic. Brendan was also thrilled the ENTIRE time and would not even let me hold his hand (okay, I was petrified so I needed him to hold my hand!!). I'm more of a big plane kind of gal. Liam was nervous and kept saying, "Be careful, airplane!!" The flight was only 10 minutes long! Whew, I was quite relieved to be back on the ground. We resumed our vacation in Sandusky. Stay tuned tomorrow as we travel by pony and camel...no joke!! Well, "travel" might be a stretch ....

Vision Therapy

2011-07-31T22:12:00.003-04:00

Alright, I spoke too soon. I shouldn't have opened my mouth. Just when I mentioned that I am happy that we are having a break from our therapy load, I find out that Aidan needs to begin a new one: vision therapy. I'm not 100% sure what it will entail at this point. All I know for sure is that it is not covered by our insurance :( Oh, well, such is life.

Basically, Aidan is extremely near-sighted in one eye and mildly near-sighted in the other. When Aidan goes to the eye doctor she tests each eye individually by patching one eye and seeing how the other performs. Aidan performs well with his "good" eye, but it is actually physically painful for me to watch when she tests his "bad" eye. He looks like he is in agony when he is forced to use that eye alone. Even with glasses on his vision is not corrected to where it needs to be. So, he relies quite a bit on his good eye. As he gets older this will likely cause problems for him in school. So, the goal of vision therapy is to train him to use his "bad" eye and equalize its skills with the other eye. We'll see how it goes. He will be re-evaluated every 8 weeks until the doctor decides he can stop therapy.

Story time and my little army of thieves

2011-07-27T18:26:00.007-04:00

I used to frequent our library story time back when Aidan was in morning preschool. It was a perfect activity with Brendan during the winter, but when he was small he would run around a bit and generally make me crazy. When I would take both boys, Aidan would be bored out of his mind and try to leave and Brendan would be going in circles, so it used to stress me out. Long story short, everyone is older and a little calmer now (and Liam is just calm in general) so we have been frequenting story time this summer. All three boys love it right now, and boy has it come a long way! I haven't been in around a year, and there is a new person doing the "family" story time that we go to (good for all ages of children). It's a little more like a rock concert, but we were all won over. First, there is a man doing story time now, and Aidan is in love with most men. While Aidan is super shy around most moms or grandmas (other than his own, of course), find me any creepy old bearded guy and he would probably go home with him. Awesome. This man is young, but he scores MAJOR points each week because he sings and plays guitar. Aidan would sit and watch for hours. The first story time we went to was all about zoo animals, so Liam was mesmerized while reading and singing about elephants and monkeys. Brendan is really easy to please and loves most social outings and is very well behaved. It's good for everyone.

The only problem I've run into is my little thieving child, Liam. He wants to bring something home from everywhere we go. That shouldn't be a problem at the library, right? Except that he didn't want to bring home a book, but their stuffed manatee. No, Liam, you may not bring home a manatee from the library. We have two stuffed manatees at home, thank you very much. We found a book about manatees, but he still screamed and cried his way out of that place. He has also attempted his thievery at other locations. Last time I left the eye doctor and got all 3 kids loaded in the car, I discovered that he swiped a plastic dinosaur from their toy bin. Luckily we had another appointment a week later so I made him return it. He swiped a stuffed toy from dance class a few weeks ago, but once again we returned it the following week. His biggest offense was when he stole a Nestle Crunch bar from the grocery store. Yikes, child. He was in the bottom of a cart with a car attached, and I had gotten to the 100 degree car, unloaded the older kids and all of my groceries. Then I went to get him out of the cart and he had it in his hand. He must have swiped it while I was checking out. Those are the three crimes he got away with, but I assure you that I prevent one act of crime nearly every day. I promise, if one of the older boys took something I would march us all back in the store/ doctor's office and make them apologize and give it back, but I don't think Liam really gets that everything in the world isn't his yet. I am working on it. And for the record, I ate the candy bar, not him. :)

I have this same problem with Aidan, but it really is a misunderstanding on his part. When Brendan has dance, the kids earn tokens and can pick a prize depending on the number of tokens they earn. Well, Aidan always wants to pick one as well. That is a huge battle with us at dance every week. The problem is that Aidan has appointments ALL THE TIME, and his therapists or doctors always let Aidan and both of his brothers pick a sticker when Aidan is finished. Aidan doesn't get why he can't pick something after dance just like his brothers pick when he is done. We are working on it, but a few times when we had to get home to make it on the bus for school, I let him bring home one of the tokens (which are fun plastic coins) and then I just returned it the next week. It just didn't seem worth the battle at the time, especially when I understood his line of reasoning and knew he would forget about the coin in a few hours. I know I don't help my cause when I give in, but sometimes you have to pick your battles to get everyone where you need to be.

Finally, this is how Aidan looked during all of our outings yesterday, even while playing at the park for over an hour in the 90 degree heat. I'm just waiting to be arrested for child endangerment. Although, my friend, Sally, reminded me that I am more likely to be arrested for theft.

Random Things

2011-07-24T16:54:00.009-04:00

We are still wimping out and staying indoors a little too much for summer. Even if the kids are cooling off in the kiddie pool, it still is a bummer for me. TOO HOT! Okay, enough of that!

I haven't had a lot of time for blogging this summer. Those three are keeping me busy!!

Aidan's therapy schedule has lightened just a bit as of last week. His PT suggested that we begin a schedule of 8 weeks of therapy followed by 8 weeks off. I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. I think I would be happy to begin that schedule once school begins when we will be swamped. Right now would be a great time for Aidan to do PT. He is naturally active in the summer and it tends to be a period of time where his motor skills grow tremendously. It seems like a missed opportunity to me to stop therapy during a time of growth. Well, I'm not a PT. I can only hope she has his interests at heart even though we've only been seeing her for a few months. We were so blessed with two amazing PT's for Aidan's first 5 1/2 yrs, and since then we've had two and neither one has seemed all that interested in Aidan. Oh, well. He gets plenty of physical activity from his weekly tennis session, the playground, swimming, chasing his brothers and whatever other random activities we do and I often think that is enough. I have to admit I have been tired of therapy for awhile now and it is nice to check one off the list.

I am thrilled to report that for the past 3 weeks, Liam has slept until 7:30 every morning except maybe one or two. I can't express the glory I am feeling over this! It has been a year at least that he has been waking me up by 6:20 at the latest, and I didn't even remember what it felt like to sleep past 6:20. Aidan has also been an early bird this summer, but not every day. We have had a few morning lately where we wake up and gasp that it is 7:45 and Scotte and I both jump out of bed! It is FABULOUS! I really appreciate sleep. My early bird Aidan woke us ALL up at 6am yesterday singing "Happy birthday" at the top of his lungs...to Elmo. Not good, but funny. Thankfully his guitar was downstairs or it would have been even louder.

Brendan has been keeping me on my toes this summer. I am at a loss at how to answer some of his questions sometimes, but I know this is something all parents go through when their kids want to know about death and what happens after. He is such a worrier that I don't want him to start worrying about that, so I am am quite okay with the fact that he thinks everyone dies when they are old. That is just fine. He has also been asking me a lot of questions about vegetarianism and who eats meat and who doesn't and whether he will eat it when he grows up, etc. We are vegetarians at home and I am willing to let him explore and make his own choice as he gets older, so it's interesting to hear his thoughts on the matter.

We've been having the occasional movie night with this hot weather, and last Friday we watched "How to Tame Your Dragon." I thought the movie was excellent, but I sort of wish maybe I had waited a year or two for the boys to see it. They all enjoyed it a lot, but it scared the sh*t out of Brendan...plus he learned a brand new word: "kill." I'm the type of person who feels guilty when I swat and kill a mosquito, and we are vegetarians, and we don't have guns around, etc. So, really, I am just feeling glad that we made it until he was almost five before he learned this word. However, he is really trying to sort this out in his head right now. The whole concept of "killing the bad guy" makes me feel on edge, so we're trying to figure this one out in our house right now. Yes, call me old fashioned, but I don't think my kids need to grow up so quickly. There is enough nastiness in the world and it wouldn't bother me if they were a few years older before they discovered it. Brendan has requested the dragon movie every day since Friday and we're working it out. He is over his fear now that he knows how the movie ends and the bad dragon is gone and everyone gets along. What an adorable movie, though.

I am keeping busy planning our upcoming trip to Sesame Place. We can't wait!!

DSACO Summer Picnic

2011-07-20T13:51:00.001-04:00

One of my favorite events that DSACO puts on is the annual summer picnic! In the past it has been held at a park, but last year they started a new tradition of having the picnic at the Columbus Zoo. We have a zoo pass and thus visit the zoo quite frequently. However, there is nothing like the DSACO picnic where we get to stay at the zoo after it closes. We were wandering around the elephant exhibit with just one other family that we are friends with. Usually we are practically waiting in line to get through there and I can't let the kids out of my reach for a second. My only worry at the moment is that next time I tell the kids we are going to the zoo that they will expect it to be like it was at the picnic! They were running everywhere, had free carousel rides and food and drinks, and it was a beautiful evening without the crowds and hot sun. We had an amazing time and the kids haven't quit talking about it since.

I was an animal lover as a child (still am, really) and I love it that one of my kids appears to have inherited this from me. While Aidan and Brendan enjoy animals and the zoo, Liam is completely enamored with it and talks about the animals all day long. Besides monster trucks, he plays with his tiny plastic animals and lines them up and makes animal sounds all the time. Just about every day he asks to go to the zoo. I am rather enjoying it!! Every night at bedtime we have a whole posse of friends lined up in his crib: 2 manatees, 3 elephants, mommy and baby gorilla, tiger, sea turtle, fish, shark, dolphin, penguin, etc. I love it!

Here's to many more amazing evenings spent with DSACO at the zoo!

Portraits

2011-07-16T15:00:00.007-04:00

(Notice the 2 in his boot) The only time I pay someone to take photos of my kids is at birthday time. I never do anything extravagant - just JCPenney. I am always tempted to pay someone a lot of money, but I love photos and I know I could never go back once I did that. I couldn't afford it! :) So, we stick with JCPenney and I usually get something I'm happy with.

Liam did an excellent job, and it could have gone either way. He is 2, after all.

Hot Weather Fun

2011-07-12T14:43:00.003-04:00

It's too hot. I'm not the type of person who complains during rainy weather, or cool weather, or on cloudy days. I whine when it's hot. I'm not talking like 85 degrees hot. I'm talking 95. If there was a larger pool and a few extra adults, I would be in bliss. But there's not. It's just me, three kids, a kiddie pool and a couple of spray bottles. I think the kids are having fun and keeping cool, though.

I am very strict about Liam's naps. I don't like him to miss more than one a week, and he goes to bed at 1pm, just after lunch, every day. We're all much happier if Liam gets a good nap. I don't feel like it prevents me from getting things done. In fact, I think it even helps a little bit. We usually go somewhere after breakfast everyday, come home for lunch and nap, and then head out somewhere again after Liam's nap or after dinner or we just keep swimming and swinging in the backyard. He's happier after nap time so all of our outings are easier. While Liam sleeps the boys and I do chores around the house and then find ways to cool off. The boys have a few favorite water games at the moment. First, they love for me to fill up spray bottles for them. then I blow bubbles and they chase the bubbles with their spray bottles and squirt them and pop them. Hours of fun!The boys also love to play with their color changer cars. These cars are very neat, even to me as an adult. You place the cars in ice water and they change colors; then you place them in warm water and they change back. These are great for the bathtub, but we've been using them in our water table. I was just about to give away the water table when the boys came up with this activity. We fill the top with very warm water, then fill the bottom with ice cubes and water. They love to race the cars down the ramps and watch them change color. Or, they fill one spray bottle with hot water and one with ice water and spray the cars. These activities are very simple and we can do them on our very shady back porch to keep cool while baby sleeps.

We've also been gravitating towards any shade covered park we can find! We went to the zoo today. The bonus was that it wasn't crowded at all. While it was extremely hot, we found many ways to stay cool (manatee exhibit, aquarium, reptile house, train ride, etc.). I'm ready for some more 80 degree weather soon!

Happy Birthday Liam!!

2011-07-06T07:54:00.008-04:00

Yesterday my sweet baby boy turned 2 years old! For a very brief period of time, we have 6, 4 and 2 year old children. It's time for another? Just kidding, we are done!

We celebrated Liam's birthday over the weekend with a fairly simple celebration, joined by Nana, Grammy and Pap Pap. Liam had the best day. He was so excited about his cake, especially, and I can't blame him. Look at it!! The lady who made this cake combined Liam's love of monster trucks and sharks just perfectly!!As always, I could go on and on about how I can't believe my baby is two years old and about how time flies by and my babies are growing up so quickly. But, if you have kids you already know all of that. Instead I will just say that I am so blessed to have this little munchkin in my life. He makes me laugh every day and he is just a complete joy. I can already tell that he is going to be TROUBLE someday. He has a little gaggle of girls that surround him wherever we go and he flirts with them relentlessly. Oy. He is just too cute.

Liam had a lovely weekend filled with grandparents, swimming and fireworks. I love hearing his "Firecracker boom boom boom!" He thinks they are just for his birthday, I'm sure! :) (I am pleased to report that there was no screaming during fireworks this year!)Happy birthday, Liam!! More nostalgic photos to come, of course!

Last Day of June

2011-06-30T20:53:00.007-04:00

Wow, it's the last day of June. "That went fast," said Brendan. "Just wait, child. It goes faster every year."We've been trying to take it easy this summer and just soak it all in. We've had some amazing weather with blue skies and cool breezes...but the mega heat wave hits again tomorrow. It's time to get the kiddie pool out again. We've been hitting the zoo and all the local parks that we like. We spend hours on the porch or in the backyard taking it easy while Liam takes his nap every day. We've been taking walks or going on bike rides after dinner. It's been very lovely indeed.

My favorite part of the day lately is when I put Liam to bed. He's been taking 3 hour naps so instead of crashing the minute his head hits the pillow, he wants to have a little conversation first. He seems to tell me all of his favorite things that he wants to do "morrow." The conversation is very one-sided; he is happy as long as I acknowledge what he is telling me. It goes something like this: "Mommy, watch Ice Age with Daddy; eat marshmallows; go zoo see penguins; see manatees; manatees crash! See elephants - too big! Watch Mickey Mouse; eat pizza and apples - no bananas; Aunt Kelly park; Glenn Joe Jacob park - eat birthday cake! Play monster trucks; Mommy - cow jump over the moon." Do you see what I mean?? So random and cute and full of his favorite things!! He keeps talking until I end up just leaving his room because he needs to go to bed. I love it!

Okay, July, we are ready for you!!

Big Metal Chicken

2011-06-29T06:00:00.001-04:00

I shared this on Facebook last week, but just today I realized that my mom and several other people I know aren't on Facebook and this is so freaking funny!!! You have to read it!!

The Bloggess - And that's why you should learn to pick your battles

Cars 2

2011-06-28T21:16:00.002-04:00

Santa brought "Toy Story 3" to Brendan for Christmas, which was super exciting. Even more exciting, though, was that there was a preview for "Cars 2" on that DVD. Brendan is obsessed with "Cars" and has been since before his 2nd birthday. Well, Disney was so kind to announce on the preview that "Cars 2" would be in theaters on June 24. Brendan is very into the calendar, so it only took a few days for me to realize that we were beginning a loooong 6-month countdown to June 24. Practically every day he announced the date and how many days were in the current month. Often I would be asked to tell him exactly how many days we had to wait until June 24. We also watched the trailers MANY times on You Tube. You can imagine the excitement he felt when it was finally June. Now, I'm also sure you can imagine what his first words to me were last Friday morning when he woke up. "Mommy, it's June 24!!! We get to see Cars 2 today!!!!" Really, I had absolutely no intention of taking him to see a movie on opening day. I figured the place would be packed. I tried to explain to him that we might have to wait a few days because it might be very busy at the theater on June 24, but he explained to me that it would be okay if they ran out of popcorn; we can see the movie without popcorn for sure.

Clearly, I couldn't resist. Brendan got to enjoy Cars 2 on June 24, and there was plenty of popcorn:) He loved the movie!! I actually don't think the movie is as kid friendly as the first one. I'm really not sure how much of the plot he understood, but he loved the characters so that's what mattered to him. There was a lot of violence/action that one may not find appropriate for very young kids. Brendan is nearly 5 so I wasn't as worried about it with him. I'm sure the little ones love it but we have tried hard to stay away from things that shoot and/or blow up in our house.

Now, I wonder when "Cars 3" will be coming out...First they have to sell all 3 billion Cars characters from the second movie. I am dreading searching for those toy cars; I feel like we just finished with that!

The Stars Align

2011-06-23T18:17:00.007-04:00

When I think back to grad school, it was one of the best times in my life. After surviving high school, college was a huge improvement. After surviving college, grad school was heaven. For me, it was the first time in my life where I felt like I was surrounded by people who were just like me!! The friends I met during those years are the type of friends such that you can be apart for an eternity, yet pick up right where you left off once reunited. It seems like no amount of time or change is enough to break those bonds. My friends from graduate school are scattered far and wide now....Oregon, Nevada, Germany, and Australia, just to name a few places. Last weekend the stars aligned and I was able to reunite with several of my besties. These are the ones who are really my family, not just my friends. These are the ones without whom I would not be the same person I am today. These are the ones I can get together with after 8 years and not miss a beat. If our friend, Hitesh, had been there I think it would have been complete. I had the best weekend and have returned as a refreshed mommy.
I didn't start using a digital camera regularly until I was married, so I don't have many photos from my "glory days." I did manage to find a few fading photos and scan them in. While I feel like I have photographed so many important moments with my kids, looking at these "old" photos makes me realize that I probably have not captured what I will ultimately remember of my kids. The best memories I have of my friends involve long talks over coffee or wine, or evenings spent dancing instead of working. I'm sure I will mostly treasure the afternoons with my kids spent cuddling and reading instead of remembering every zoo trip we took. Only time will tell.

Nostalgia (1998 through 2003, in no particular order)

Thanks to Elena and Vladimir for hosting us and for the amazing wine and food. Wow, am I spoiled now! Until we meet again, my dear friends.

New Glasses

2011-06-22T05:00:00.000-04:00

I had all 3 boys at the eye doctor yesterday. Luckily everything is looking great and Aidan is still the only one needing glasses. We picked out frames that are completely different than what he's had before. Not that you can tell much from our blurry cell phone picture, but what do you think? He really likes them and wanted to take them home right away. I convinced him that he will see better if he waits until they order a pair with his prescription. :) I guess we'll see how they work in a few weeks!

Ridicularious

2011-06-21T23:18:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago I received a random email from a person asking me if he could use a couple of photos of Liam in a video that he was making to welcome students to his university (he is a residence life intern). He explained the purpose of the video and it sounded harmless enough. Plus, I was simply impressed that he didn't just use the photos and instead did the right thing and asked my permission. It's very unlikely I would have ever run across this video on my own, after all! I am amused by the video, and it is certainly as harmless as he described. Look for early baby photos of Liam near the end when they discuss the George Foreman grill (he found the photos in an old blog post of mine). As my friend, Scott, described this video....it's "ridicularious!!" Enjoy!

Summer Vacation!!

2011-06-14T21:25:00.004-04:00

I will admit that every spring when school closes for the summer I have mixed emotions of happiness and dread. I love having my kids back again with no schedule, where we don't have to be home to catch the bus, etc. I know this will be even more of a relief as they get older when we finally get a break from homework and projects and the hectic morning rush. However, there is also a dread of losing my few "easy" hours every week where I could do a ton of shopping, cleaning, laundry folding, exercising, reading and relaxing with one kid instead of 3. Trust me, 3 kids makes every task take approximately three times longer than it should!! Now that we've had a week and a half without school, we are all adjusting and having a great time. I love being able to go to the zoo, library, park, etc. without any worry about where else we need to be. I have one new thing to contend with this year: my kids seem to be fighting over every little thing these days. My gut tells me this is a result of a long winter being cooped up together, followed by an extremely wet spring being cooped up together. They were making me crazy but now that's it's nice outside I have the opportunity to change things up when the bickering starts and send them outside into the yard or plan a quick outing somewhere. Things appear to be easing up a bit.Enjoy your summer!! We will certainly be making the most of ours!

My Little Dancer

2011-06-11T20:44:00.011-04:00

Brendan's dance recital was last weekend and he was a little tap-dancing monkey! I had no idea that he would love being on stage. I was just thinking about how much I dislike the idea of performing in front of a room full of people, but he clearly got his lack of stage fright from his daddy.

After an abysmal dress rehearsal, I found myself feeling way more nervous than I should have been feeling about a 4 year old dancing on stage. I think I just wanted the kids to do well since they had been practicing the dance for so long. Well, they rocked their performance!! I think I cried the whole time because that's how adorable it was. No, it wasn't perfect, but that's what made it perfect. They tried so hard and the audience responded really well to them. I promised the grandmas I would post a video, but guess what?? Yep, no photos or videos allowed. I was disappointed! For the bargain price of $10 per minute (yes, $30) I ordered a video of the recital. I hadn't planned on ordering it, but after that performance I couldn't pass it up!! I am so proud of my little man and his dance friends.

Brendan enjoyed dancing on stage; he loved that Nana came to see him dance, and he really felt special the entire day. Every kid deserves a day where they feel special now and again.

We planned on getting a baby sitter for Aidan and Liam, but in the end we decided to take them with us. After all, they sat through every dance class so they deserved to see the end product. They did a wonderful job! I am always amazed at Liam's attention span, considering he isn't even two yet! He was so engaged in the performances. Scotte ended up leaving with them after two hours, but not because they were being crazy. We just wanted to get them out of there before they lost their patience and we thought two hours was plenty.

Great job, Brendan!!

Happy Birthday Ava!!

2011-06-08T20:45:00.003-04:00

Our niece is turning a year old tomorrow and we were fortunate to be able to celebrate her birthday with her last weekend! She is getting so cute with that curly hair and her little tutu and almost taking her first steps.

I love watching a one year old smash a cake to smithereens. Miss Ava liked the way the cake tasted, but wasn't interested in having her fingers covered in purple frosting!

Happy birthday, Ava! We look forward to watching you grow up.

Aidan Goes to Kindergarten: Part IV - we signed the IEP

2011-06-01T12:41:00.003-04:00

We had our big IEP meeting last week to finalize the Kindergarten IEP before school starts next year. I'm sure we will be re-visiting it after the first 9 weeks of school once we see how things go, but I have to say that I am HAPPY with it for now! Very happy! Oh, the stress has subsided for awhile and I feel like I can breather again.

The only thing I really wanted for Aidan that I feel is missing is that he will not be going to our home/neighborhood school. But, the other school is just around the corner and will be great for him. He will be in the classroom without pull-outs for his "Kindergarten" days, and will go in for the mornings on his off days for one-on-one help with math, reading, speech and other IEP goals. We have the strange Kindergarten schedule of every other day, all day, instead of all mornings or afternoons. Here is an example of a possible schedule for Aidan: Mondays - home with me for private therapies; Tuesday - all day Kindergarten; Wednesday - Specialized Learning Center for one-on-one reading and math; Thursday - all day Kindergarten; Friday - either all day Kindergarten or Specialized Learning Center (alternating weeks). How I will keep track of it I don't know, but we will figure it out!

He will have heavy paraprofessional support in the classroom for the first 9 weeks with intent to fade as he gets used to the routine. He will have help with table work from a paraprofessional, peer support, the use of timers and visual schedules, etc. He will have an adaptive phys ed teacher consult with the regular phys ed teacher every week to make sure activities are modified for him if necessary. He will have assistance in the hallways, cafeteria, art, music, etc. The best part for me is that in areas where he is strong at the moment (actually reading and math, believe it or not), they created goals for him that are beyond the Kindergarten curriculum. I know that within a few years he will be behind in these areas, so I'm glad that instead of them waiting for him to fall behind they are still pushing him forward.

I have to admit that after the IEP meeting I am looking forward to Kindergarten. I'm anxious to see what Aidan can do; I hope they have high expectations for him. I'm sure we will be making changes once we see how things go, but we are starting at a good place.

Sense of Humor

2011-05-31T08:27:00.003-04:00

It makes me laugh to see what makes Aidan laugh. I have never met a kid who thinks it's so funny to see people fall down the stairs. He will ask for You Tube and begin by watching videos of the Sesame Street baker falling down the stairs. Then he will find many random videos of people falling and just sit there and crack up. Now he is moving on to other funny things. Here is what he currently asks for when he needs a good laugh. I should take a video of him watching this video; it is hysterical to watch!

Our Camping Adventure

2011-05-26T13:00:00.001-04:00

A few weekends ago we took the kids on a camping (RV)/ birding adventure at Lake Erie with some friends. With the exception of getting my ornery almost-two year old to fall asleep and NOT climb out of the pack n' play, we had a marvelous time. Seriously, he screamed until 1am the first night, so you can imagine how much sleep anyone can get in an camper with a screaming kid. I felt bad for our friends. So, the next night, instead of sleeping in the camper, we took off for home at bedtime. Problem solved. I would have stayed a second night if it had just been our family, but it didn't seem fair to anyone else.

The kids love the friends we stayed with (so do we). Scotte's friend, John, is so good with the boys that I accidentally found myself telling them he is "Uncle John." I got to go birding for an entire morning (without my children!) with John's mom. She is such an excellent birder and it was awesome to hang out with her since I am so rusty. In the afternoon, we were joined by John's sister and her son and we took the boys with us to the Magee Marsh boardwalk. With the help of the boys I didn't see half of what I wanted to. :)

Liam was up until 1am on Friday night and then midnight on Saturday. This is what he looked like on Sunday morning at breakfast....

We hope to repeat this adventure next year, and hopefully a wiser and older Liam will realize how nice it is to sleep.

It's Not Okay

2011-05-25T08:13:00.002-04:00

I started watching "Glee" because I was excited to watch a show with an actress with Down syndrome. Then, of course, I figured out that I just simply love "Glee." I think this PSA is powerful and worth 30 seconds of your time.

Ed Begley, Jr.

2011-05-21T13:48:00.003-04:00

My husband has been at a conference all week (but is finally coming home - yay!) and today he sent me this picture of himself with Ed Begley, Jr. I love it!! I am so jealous.

Party

2011-05-20T21:53:00.004-04:00

Drawing has never been Brendan's strength, but I think this is my favorite drawing he has ever made for me. He told me it is a party with lots of balloons, confetti, disco balls and happy friends. I know he actually started drawing grass and flowers then it morphed into this. Even though he has struggled with his fine motor skills he has improved so much from being in preschool and wants to color and draw all the time. You should see my doors right now because he thinks all of his masterpieces should be displayed!

Bombaleo

2011-05-17T13:04:00.004-04:00

Today we received Brendan's dance class photos and I can't believe how darn cute they are. It seems like more boys would take dance class if they knew they could be surrounded by cute girls! :) Bren is standing next to his adorable wife-to-be, Addie, and they are joined by Kellsey and Grace. (Grandmas, you can click on the dance photo to enlarge it).

Brendan's dance recital is coming up in a couple of weeks! I am sure he has no idea what is bout to hit him. This talk of recitals is very abstract for him at the moment. Let's hope the dress rehearsal gives him a good preview of what to expect.

I took a video of their dance back in March (on St. Patty's day), and you would be surprised at how much it has improved since then (but I will wait until the recital for another video). Here is a sneak peak of the dance....

at the grocery store

2011-05-11T21:43:00.004-04:00

Ugh, I have been having trouble with blogger all week! I had a post scheduled to come up on Wednesday, but it didn't show up and has now totally disappeared. Then I couldn't log on for the last few days. Well, grandmas, if you have been looking for a post from me and haven't found it, that is why. Now I will try to re-write what I thought I posted earlier....

I am often at the grocery store with all three children. Usually, if I go to the right store (our local Kroger Marketplace) and there are lots of samples and we are guaranteed a cart where all three kids can fit, then it is an easy success. On occasion I end up at a different store and suddenly someone has to walk and there are no samples in sight...and you can guess how much fun is had by all.

Most of the time Liam ends up in the front basket of the cart, Brendan ends up in the back where the groceries should go, and Aidan is my walker. Liam has to have a seat belt, and I can't trust Aidan to stay seated in the back of the cart, so the only option left is for him to walk. Brendan likes to walk sometimes, too, but sometimes he takes the lazy way and it prevents arguments if the kids stay separated.

When Aidan walks in the store, there is only one negative. He can be a great helper most of the time. He pushes the cart and I hand him things to put in the back (I give them to him, he hands them to Brendan and Brendan organizes items in the back of the cart and everyone is happy). BUT, he is a SHOPPER. He picks up items when I am distracted and puts them in the cart. I have to be vigilant or I end up in the check-out line with random items we would never use. Occasionally this habit of Aidan's is a real problem...such as the other day in Meijer when he tried to drop a lemon meringue pie in the cart without me noticing. You definitely can't drop a pie. Well, it's an adventure taking three little ones anywhere, but that's part of the fun, I guess.

When we get home from the store Aidan insists on helping me put all the groceries away. He has some sneaky little tricks in this regard, as well. Now that I have him figured out this isn't a problem. While I am busy putting something away, Aidan will occasionally sneak an item he likes into my spice cabinet. This wasn't so bad the day it was the package of new socks for the boys, but it was a problem when I discovered sour cream in there three days later! Now I know where to look when I can't find something.

At home, Aidan likes to "shop" often. He fills his cart with items from my spice cabinet, then pretends to pay and fill the shopping bag, then he puts the bag back in the cart.

Mother's Day

2011-05-07T20:26:00.008-04:00

I want to wish a very happy Mother's Day to my mom, mother-in-law, sister, sister-in-law and all the other moms out there. No one ever tells you how much amazement, delight and worry come with being a mom. I don't know about you, but my wish for Mother's Day tomorrow is to sleep in and have someone else get up at 6:30 with Liam! It's the simple things, I tell you...

Yesterday I celebrated Mother's Day at school with the kids and it was absolutely adorable, as always. They sang songs with their music teacher, then we had a tea party in their classrooms with iced tea, lemonade and cookies/muffins, etc.

The best part of Mother's Day at school is reading the little Q&A booklets the kids make with help from their teachers (the teachers ask the kids questions about their moms and then write down their answers for them).
Here is Aidan's:
Here is Brendan's:Shhh, don't tell Brendan that I am several years past 31. He still thinks that is my age, and it's funny that they weren't sure of my age in Aidan's class so asked Brendan for help!! The boys will be shocked when I turn 34 this year!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

We had a happy Easter

2011-05-04T13:59:00.006-04:00

...but I am really delayed in posting photos. I am extremely behind in just about every area of life lately. It seems like our days, evenings and weekends are all scheduled to the max. While we will have a little relief from this when school is out, I will also be missing my few hours a week with no kids where I play catch up!!

We traveled and visited both of our families for Easter. Wouldn't you know it that our camera battery died halfway through our Easter weekend?! That always happens to us, so you would think we would learn our lesson. The battery lasts for so long that it always shocks us when it runs out.

It is quite interesting when we visit my family lately. There are so many boys, and they are all CRAZY together!! They enjoyed coloring eggs together and an Easter egg hunt. They also had some birthday presents for Aidan, which he always enjoys. The little sneak figured out that my sister bought him a Sesame Street movie, and ran off with the present well before we were planning to let him open them. He hid in one of the bedrooms, opened it, then brought it to me to put on for him. Stinker.

Egg coloring with Liam was quite an adventure!! He absolutely loved every second of it, but he was a monster. He was throwing eggs in the dye, licking the eggs, drying his hands in his hair, you name it. Even though it was an adventure for the adults involved, it was worth it to see him have so much fun. (please don't mind our photos - we are huge fans of shirtless egg coloring)

Well, the camera battery died not too long after the egg coloring, so I will post other photos once I get them from my sister and Scotte's mom. I don't have any photos of our visit with Scotte's family!

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter like we did. It is hard to travel for a weekend with three kids sometimes. Aidan always gives us some trouble while travelling, and sleep can be a problem (although this time it was okay). I'm glad our families are willing to put up with us for a few days.

5/1/2011

2011-05-02T20:35:00.004-04:00

"Are we seeking power for power’s sake? Or are we seeking to make the world and our nation better places to live. If we seek the latter, violence can never provide the answer. The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." (corrected quote)

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Just in case you are wondering, I'm feeling relieved that Osama bin Laden is gone, but I was slightly disturbed by the celebrations going on. I can't bring myself to celebrate a person's death. I have never been an "eye for an eye" type of person. Also, I am wondering what comes next...

Six Year Portraits

2011-05-01T20:46:00.003-04:00

Last week, despite all of the craziness, we managed to squeeze in a portrait session for Aidan. He did an outstanding job! I was very proud of him for being so cooperative. The session was late in the evening so it could have gone either way after such a busy week. Plus, he was coming down with a cold.

I absolutely love seeing how my kids grow every year. I can't wait to frame my new photos:)

Fairy Tale

2011-04-29T13:37:00.003-04:00

I don't know what has gotten in to me! I'm not a "wedding" type of person...just ask my husband! I didn't even want to have a wedding of my own. I really just wanted to get married on some beach somewhere without anyone around. Yet, somehow I can't stop reading about the Royal couple or anything pertaining to today's Royal Wedding. I was up at 4:45am, very content to get to watch much of the wedding in peace before the kids woke up. And I LOVED every second of it! Liam woke earlier than I wanted (6am) but he was also happy as a lark sitting on my lap watching the "Princess" (although I found out today that she's technically not a princess yet, just a Duchess....whatever). Brendan also enjoyed some of it when he woke up, but Aidan resembled the small girl in the photo above as he was angry that I wouldn't put on Sesame Street.

Now I need a spot of tea and a scone. Happy Wedding Day, everyone, and fitting with the royal celebration my husband and I will celebrate our 8th anniversary this evening (April 26th is our day but we were swamped this week).

Rock n' Roll

2011-04-22T09:13:00.003-04:00

Aidan loved his birthday, and the look on his face was priceless. Pure joy. I don't know which was better, his "singing happy birthday" face...........or his "I just blew out my candles" face. Adorable!

Happy birthday, Aidan!!

Happy 6th Birthday, Aidan!!

2011-04-20T15:48:00.005-04:00

Happy Birthday, Aidan! We have the cake and presents ready, now we are waiting for the birthday boy to get home from school!!

He is getting a new guitar and he is going to be thrilled!

Happy Birthday, Lauren!!

2011-04-18T20:32:00.003-04:00

Our niece, Lauren, turned 6 years old on the 14th and we were lucky to be able to attend her birthday party this year. Aidan and Lauren were born 6 days apart, so every year at this time I am in awe that another year has passed and our "babies" are 6 years old. Happy Birthday, Lauren!

Communication Device For Sale

2011-04-13T14:58:00.004-04:00

We are currently selling Aidan's SpringBoard Lite. This communication device helped Aidan tremendously and I will be sad to see it go. You can read more about it HERE. I'm glad Aidan is more verbal now, and we want to move on to other things he would benefit from. We really want to get an iPad for Aidan. There are so many apps for reading, math, etc, that he would learn from, and computers in general are highly motivating for him. Check out this blog: Babies With iPads.

So, that said, Aidan's SpringBoard Lite cost more than $3,000 and we are selling for $1,500, including all the accessories.

email me at elliott.272@osu.edu if interested, and see the details in the sidebar.

Visit the Prentke Romich website for more info.

Mouths

2011-04-11T07:07:00.000-04:00

Liam makes me laugh for many reasons lately, but mostly because some of his personality quirks are quite unexpected. For instance, did you know that for Liam there is one thing more terrifying than any other thing on earth? Can you guess what that thing might be? Well, he is afraid of pacifiers. Actually, he is not afraid of the pacifier itself, but he is afraid of the children who use them. He screams in terror when he sees a kid walking around with a pacifier. If I am at a store and a kid with a pacifier comes near then I am in for a major scream fest. But, it is so funny that it is hard not to laugh at him. Who is afraid of pacifiers?

I think Liam just has weird issues with mouths. He will beg me to watch "Finding Nemo," but when the shark comes on he screams and cries about the "mouth" and the "teeth." Then he will beg me to let him watch it again. It's the same thing with books. He will bring me a book about sharks or dinosaurs and want to see the teeth. Then he will cry. It's crazy.

I think he even has dreams about teeth. He will sometimes wake up screaming about mouths and teeth during the night. It's not so funny at 3am, though:)

Liam is adorable in about a million other ways at the moment. I love the way he grabs a book and then backs himself up until he is sitting in my lap. He wants to read all the time. I love the way he yells at the cat when he comes near his trucks. He thinks the cat is trying to steal his toys:) I love the way he calls everything with a big wheel a "monster truck." He saw a picture of a horse and buggy today and called it a monster truck!! Brendan thought it was hysterical. I love the way he imitates everything his brothers try to do. He is a cute one.

Aidan goes to Kindergarten: Part III - Least Restrictive Environment, Math and Reading

2011-04-07T20:22:00.005-04:00

I probably mentioned in the past that I am a member of State Advisory Panel for Exceptional Children here in the state of Ohio. The panel essentially advises the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) on special education and related services for children with disabilities. As Aidan is entering Kindergarten I have found these meetings to be exceptionally interesting. We had a meeting today and we talked at length this afternoon about the next main issue we will be adressing as a panel. I feel fortunate to be involved in this next step as it is an issue that has been plaguing me since we started the Kindergarten transition process.

Today we got a glimpse of the "Ohio Special Education Profile," which basically evaluates the state's efforts to implement IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004). Here is a summary of a few important things I learned:

1) In Ohio, children with disabilites have met the target goal of having greater than 49.4% of kids with disabilities in the regualr classroom for at least 80% of the day (Ohio had 57.4% of kids with disabilities in the regular class).

2) They met the goal of having fewer than 5.3% of kids in separate facilities (Ohio at 3.5%).

3) Here is the crappy part - while more kids with disabilites in Ohio are spending more time in the regular classroom, reading and math proficiency rates for kids with disabilities are PLUMMETING! For instance, the target was > 75.5% of kids with disabilities proficient in reading. Actual number = 44.3%!!! The math target was 69.6% of students; actual number = 39.3%. Not only are the proficiency rates low, but they are dropping.

At first, I thought of Aidan and how hard it will be for him to be proficient in math, no matter what the state is hoping and projecting for, even with the best, most well-trained teachers. But, keep in mind that more than 80% of kids with disabilities in Ohio have average or above average intelligence!! There is a major piece of the puzzle missing here!!! This is what SAPEC will be focusing on in the near future.

You can guess what is missing, right? Our teachers desperately need training on how to differentiate instruction for many types of learning styles. Inclusion is being pushed heavily in Ohio right now, but sticking a child with a disability in a classroom without proper supports is NOT inclusion. Unless the child has access to the curriculum, he is not being included. Oh, my, we have a lot of work to do, Ohio!! Getting the kids in the classroom is not enough.

This is an area I have been struggling with. We want Aidan in the class, but it won't work without someone who knows what to do with him. For Kindergarten, I'm not that worried. I want Aidan in the class all day, because he will only have Kindergarten every other day. I know that I am going to send him on one "non-Kindergarten" day each week for one-on-one work in math, reading, speech, OT and whatever other things come up. However, this is going to get really tricky come first grade when he is in school all day, every day. While I want Aidan in the classroom all day with his peers, he does not learn like all the other kids do. He will benefit from being pulled out of the class here and there for individual help from a trained person. It will be tough to find the right balance.

Scotte and I struggled so much in picking a school for Aidan next year. We ultimately decided upon a school which does not have a self-contained classroom designed for kids with disabilities to be in all day long, but instead has one for kids to be pulled into for individualized help. The school we picked has a cognitive learning center with an inclusion specialist trained to help kids with cognitive disabilities. That specialist (along with two aides) can have up to 16 kids in 6 grade levels to deal with, working with the teachers and with the kids one-on-one. On one hand I feel fortunate that this type of model exists, to assist teachers in the classroom. On the other hand, I have struggled with wanting Aidan in our home school with an aide. I worry about who will be assisting the teacher in teaching Aidan, and who will be adapting materials for Aidan. It seems like it might be too easy for them to just pull him out of the class in our home school instead of wanting to support him in the classroom. My gut tells me that Aidan will get a better education at the school we picked, but my heart is sad that I am giving up a goal I had for Aidan, of going to his home school.

We still have to finish Aidan's IEP for Kindergarten, but we did get the results of all of his evaluations. It is never fun to have someone assign numbers to all of your child's weaknesses...speech level of a 2-1/2 year old; fine motor grasping skills of a child Liam's age (but to be fair to Aidan, he did not perform his best on the OT evaluation). We had one surprising result from Aidan's IQ test. He scored a 71. It's not that I want to broadcast Aidan's IQ score on my blog, but the score was somewhat interesting in that if he had scored a 72, he would not have qualified as having a cognitive disability (69 +/- 2). I know he still would have qualified for OT and speech, but he really needs more help than that. However, I hope this score will perhaps lead them to not underestimate Aidan's abilities. I have to admit, I had an interesting reaction to this score myself. I truly believe that IQ score should be irrelevant to schools. I don't want them to judge my child by his IQ score. I was even reluctant to find out what the score was, myself. So, somehow, I am annoyed at myself for feeling vindicated by this score. While I think it shouldn't matter to anyone at the school, my gut tells me that Aidan will be judged by it, so for him, the higher the better, right? I'm certainly not claiming that Aidan is a genius, but he is very capable and they need to have high expectations.

Okay, so there is my two cents about the state of SAPEC, education in Ohio, and education for Aidan. I'll try not to talk about it anymore until Aidan's final IEP meeting at the end of May!

Music From the Heart

2011-04-05T21:29:00.002-04:00

Darius Rucker performed a song with a group of adults with Developmental Disabilities at the Academy of Country Music Awards this week. I enjoyed this performance so much (probably because I had a thing for Darius Rucker back in my college days)!!

Potty Training, The Final Step

2011-04-04T07:08:00.008-04:00

Aidan is nearly 6 years old and we are nearing the end of our potty training journey, which started when he was 2-1/2. You can read my last update HERE. Aidan and I have been working very hard to get him to be 100% independent on the potty before Kindergarten. We are getting so close in so many ways! Aidan always decides for himself whether to sit(when he needs to) or stand; he can now get his pants up and I only have to straighten them and snap and zip his jeans if that is what he is wearing (I foresee a lot of sweat pants for Kindergarten). He still needs a potty seat when he needs to sit, but I don't expect he will be doing that at school; I have a feeling he will hold it until he is home :) At school he has always gone potty in the small bathroom in the back of the classroom. Now that he is standing independently they have been trying to transition him to the group bathroom and have him use the urinal. He is somewhat reluctant but I hope they will master that by the end of May. I think they will likely be able to if they move slowly...perhaps if they take him there alone to start with and then take him with the group after a couple of weeks. If he can master that I think we will be all set for Kindergarten! Now, the biggest success we've had is that Aidan is now sleeping in underwear! He has woken up wet twice in the last 6 weeks - very minor, though, he saved most for the potty. I am so excited about this final step! One more kid out of diapers!!!! It is so cute to have one kid ending their journey while the last one begins. Liam likes the potty and wants to sit on it. It is adorable! He barely weighs 20 lbs and it looks so funny to see this little peanut sitting on the potty! He says, "Put stinkies in there" but he hasn't done it yet:) There is no pressure on my part, but I will let him sit there if he wants to. Once he was watching Aidan and Aidan said, "Watch, Liam." Then he peed and told Liam it was his turn. He fully expected Liam to step up to the potty and have a turn. Sooo funny!!!

Here we go again...

2011-03-31T20:21:00.004-04:00

...with those darn popsicles!! We had a few warm days last week (but returned to reality with snow yesterday) and now the kids are begging for popsicles again! I caved on a cold day after a rough morning where we all needed a little pick-me-up. I personally have no interest in eating popsicles with my hat and gloves on, thank you very much, but it seemed to lighten the mood. During the winter I get so tired of dealing with the hats, gloves and coats. Now I've had a preview of things to come - grimy, sticky fingers, and dirty bare feet leaving a trail all over the house. I'm kinda looking forward to it!

Brendan and Addie

2011-03-29T20:24:00.004-04:00

I would like for you to meet Brendan's future wife, Addie...at least that's what they tell us. Yes, they are getting married. It all started when Addie told Brendan that he was her boyfriend. He said "okay!" Brendan has been thinking about weddings quite a bit since the wedding we went to a few weekends ago, so he rapidly changed the game and asked Addie to marry him. She agreed. She has already created a beautiful hat for her wedding. Those two kids are so adorable. They are in dance class and preschool together. Today at dance they were dancing so close to each other they were practically falling down, and at school they hold hands on the playground. They make presents for each other. I wasn't sure at first how I felt about my 4 year old planning his wedding, but it is actually the sweetest thing I have seen in a long time. They are both so cute and innocent and have the sweetest ideas about marriage. Brendan told me that he will miss me when he gets married and moves into his new house. By the way, he and Addie are apparently moving into a house he is building by my parents' pool. He tells me he is marrying Addie because he "loves her" and wonders why other 3 and 4 year old kids don't have girlfriends.

I'll keep you updated on the wedding plans :) In the meantime, you can check out Addies' mom's blog to read her version of the big day... Don't Lick the Baby! - Addie's Getting Married

Yam Yums

2011-03-25T18:17:00.011-04:00

Brendan immensely enjoys helping me cook (whenever I feel like letting him). Recently when Nana visited us she brought the kids an adorable Sesame Street cook book. Brendan constantly picks out recipes and has me buy the ingredients so we can make them. No matter what we make, he will eat almost every bite of it!! The kids are on spring break this week and they had a stomach virus. We barely left the house for half the week, but we still needed some fun activities to get the through the afternoons. Brendan, Scotte and I made these "Yam Yums" one day and they were delicious! I would make them again just on taste value alone, and Brendan ate them like they were the last food on earth. We also tried the Strawberry Jam Sammies and Brendan and Liam polished off an entire loaf of bread while eating this jam. Aidan enjoys cooking as well, but Brendan asks to do it all the time, whereas Aidan will participate if we are doing it but doesn't care one way or another. These recipes are fun for the whole family!

Yam Yums

1 large or 2 medium sweet potatoes

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

2 tablespoons orange juice

2 tablespoons butter, melted

salt and black pepper

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line large baking sheet with tin foil.

Cut the scrubbed but unpeeled sweet potato crosswise into 1/2-inch thick slices. Place the slices on a cutting board. To make Yam Yums, use small metal cookie cutters about 1 1/2 inches in diameter to cut the potato slices into shapes. Or, cut out shapes and letters with a sharp knife.

Stir together the maple syrup, orange juice and melted butter in a small bowl (I halved the syrup, orange juice and butter and it was plenty). Arrange the Yam Yums in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet. Season both sides of the Yam Yums with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Brush them generously with part of the maple syrup mixture. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until the Yam Yums are tender, turning the pieces over once and basting with the remaining maple syrup mixture. Remove the Yam Yums to a wire rack or a platter. When cool enough to handle, choose your favorite shape or letter to eat first!

Strawberry Jam Sammies
1 bag (16 ounces) frozen whole strawberries or mixed berries

1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar (depending on the sweetness of the fruit)

Juice of 1/2 of a lemon

Whole grain sandwich bread

Stir together the strawberries and sugar in a 2-quart microwaveable measuring cup or casserole dish.

Microwave, uncovered, on HIGH for 2 minutes. Stir and cut the large berries into small pieces.

Add the lemon juice and stir. Return to the microwave and cook 10 minutes, stirring after 5 minutes. Watch the mixture and stir again once or twice, if needed, to prevent the jam from boiling over.

To test the thickness of the jam, put a spoonful on a small saucer ad place it in the freezer for a minute. This is about how thick your jam will be when cooled. If you want thicker jam, microwave 2 to 4 more minutes, stirring as necessary.

Allow the jam to cool. Pour it into a storage container. Jam will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or in the freezer up to 4 months.

When the jam is completely cooled, make the sammies. Put slices of bread on a cutting board. Cut shapes from the bread using assorted cookie cutters. Spread the bread shapes with jam.

Swim Class

2011-03-24T20:17:00.004-04:00

I finally enrolled Aidan and Brendan in swimming lessons. I have no idea what I was waiting for! I meant to do it last summer and didn't figure out what worked with our schedule in time, but I'm really glad I figured it out now. The boys love it so much, and we are in love with the Westerville Recreation Center where they are taking the class.

I was a little worried about how it would go for Aidan. Technically, the class they are in does not require parents to be in the pool with the kids. Aidan often needs some one-on-one help to learn so I decided to wear my suit anyway. They have been totally fine with me or Scotte getting in the water with Aidan to give him some extra attention. I am thinking of staying out of the water at the beginning of their next lesson, just to see how Aidan does, but I'm really not sure. There are 12 kids and I think Aidan will get lost in the shuffle. The problem we had last week was small. Aidan saw a kid splashing water with one of the instructors. The instructor laughed. Aidan thought it was funny, too, so he gave it a try. The instructor laughed. BIG MISTAKE!! If Aidan thinks something is funny he will continue relentlessly. While the other kid might be easily redirected back to focusing on the lesson, Aidan will continue to try to make the instructor laugh. The real problem is that the instructor didn't really know what to do, so he just kept laughing instead of redirecting. If he would have just stopped laughing and asked Aidan to focus on a task, then Aidan would have. That can be frustrating sometimes! We had a similar issue at soccer last summer. I feel like I have to have a talk with every coach that it's okay to joke with Aidan for a minute or so, but they can't be afraid to get him back on course.

Well, enough about the that. The boys are both doing well and loving the class. Did you notice my not-so-great photo at the top?? Well, my beloved camera is freaking out at the moment and I am heartbroken. We purchased the camera when Aidan was born, so it is nearly 6 years old, and I REALLY LOVE THAT CAMERA!! I don't want t have to buy a new one. I hope my husband can work some magic on it and fix it. It did not properly save most of the photos I took at the last swim class :(

World Down Syndrome Day

2011-03-21T20:04:00.006-04:00

To celebrate World Down Syndrome Day, our local Down syndrome organization held an event featuring our senator, Sherrod Brown, and some local self-advocates. Scotte and Aidan attended this morning and Aidan had a great time. When he got home and I asked him who he saw today, he said "Sherrod Brown," but I'm sure he didn't know who he was. He mostly enjoyed clapping along when everyone else clapped.

Happy World Down Syndrome Day! Look at my handsome little boy, soon to be 6 years old!

Together

2011-03-21T08:30:00.006-04:00

Every time I look lately my little monkeys are curled up together on a couch or in a chair...and it's very cute until the wrestling starts. Liam is the worst of the bunch! He can tackle the big boys to the ground, and he's so cute about it that it makes them giggle. I'm so glad spring is here and we can take this energy outside!!! This week the boys are on spring break so we will be spending a lot of time together. We plan on enjoying all of our warm days outdoors.

Happy World Down Syndrome Day, everyone! Today Aidan and Scotte are attending a local event with our senator, Sherrod Brown. Scotte took the camera or I would post the adorable photos I took this morning of Scotte and Aidan getting ready to go. Aidan had on his "party" clothes and he knew he looked so handsome. They were adorable!! More later!

Bob

2011-03-16T15:43:00.005-04:00

Brendan's preschool class has a little stuffed dog (Bob) that gets sent home to spend a weekend with each child in the class. After the visit you write in a journal about the dog's visit and include some photos. Last weekend Bob visited our home and Brendan took it very seriously! I felt bad that we had a fairly boring weekend planned, filled with chores. Brendan still had fun with the dog and took him everywhere he went. We got photos of Bob having snacks with Brendan, playing in the backyard, reading bedtime stories, singing songs, riding in the car, visiting the library, playing in the playroom while Aidan was at tennis, and coloring pictures. Brendan was satisfied that Bod had a good time at our house :),

Small Joys

2011-03-13T11:24:00.012-04:00

Liam has rediscovered our long-neglected Mr. Potato Head collection. He puts a lot of thought into his little masterpieces, and he prefers to put eyes into every hole if possible. It is so much fun watching him discover the world. You almost forget after a few years how much fun it is to point to all the body parts on a baby.

Besides playing "Go Fish," Aidan loves to wedge himself into the corner of the couch and play with Scotte's iPod touch. He is obsessed with the Sesame Street Baker videos. He will watch them on the iPod and then act them out himself by grabbing a bunch of toys and hurling himself off the stairs.

Brendan has been spending his days singing his favorite song from school. It is HILARIOUS and very loud, but super cute for me to watch. Liam and Aidan try to sing along as well.

Why am I freaking out about this?

2011-03-08T07:00:00.001-05:00

I know that my family doesn't completely understand why I am having such anxiety about the IEP process that we are going through right now. Scotte and I have a vision for Aidan's education and it is our job to make sure that we do not fail our son. (I want to send out a disclaimer that I am aware that all children and families are different; here I am explaining what we want for Aidan and in no way am I judging what other families have chosen for their children. Aidan is unique and our family is unique.)

I read this on another blog today...
Inclusion and Access to the General Education Curriculum (on Our Perfectly Imperfect Life)

I think this would be very beneficial to read if you are interested in Aidan's education. Also, reflect if you will on your own education as a child. Do you recall anyone with disabilities in your classes? In your school? Perhaps then look deep inside yourself and examine your own immediate reactions to someone with a disability. I want more than that for Aidan. And for Brendan and Liam. I want the children of today growing up knowing that it is NORMAL for someone to have a disability. It is NORMAL that people aren't all the same. It is NORMAL that some people are good at some things and others are good at other things. The kids that go to school with Aidan today will possibly be his future employers or coworkers. If Aidan isn't in class with his peers or if he is treated like an outsider, then that is how his peers will think it is okay to treat him. That isn't fair. Aidan is very capable and he deserves the same opportunities as everyone else. The main goal that Scotte and I have is for Aidan to be in a class with his peers, with the supports he needs to do his best. Period. I will send Aidan wherever I have to to make that possible.

I also want to point out that while Aidan will benefit in many ways from being fully included at school, there are also many benefits demonstrated for his typical peers as well! It seems like everyone wins in these types of situations. Follow the link above and you can read more, but here are some highlights...

Academic Benefits of Inclusion
(source)
Students earned higher grades and higher scores on standarized tests.
Greater progress in reading and math when compared to students educated in resource setttings.
Higher high school completion rates and college attendance.
And for students without disabilities: Achievement increased in at least one academic area. In other words, students without disabilities do benefit from having students with disabilities in their classroom.

Social Benefits of Inclusion for students with disabilities
Students with disabilities in general education classes had more friends.
Teacher ratings showed improved social skills.
Students do not demonstrate high levels of loneliness.

Social Benefits of Inclusion for students without disabilities
Improved self concept.
Reduced fear of human differences.
Increased tolerance.
Improved social emotional growth.
Improved personal conduct.
Positive outcomes for high school students who had interaction with students with disabilities.

Behavioral Benefits of Inclusion
Higher level of engagement in school activities.
Sharp decline in discipline referrals after shift to inclusive practices for students with and without disabilities.

Benefits of Inclusion for post school outcomes
Increased employment rate and job skill level.
More time in general education programs resulted in better postsecondary outcomes
(click here for PSE opportunities for students with ID).

I hope some of you have a better understanding of why I am currently slightly obsessed with this topic. It is not a given in every school district that a child like Aidan will have the opportunity to be educated in the way Scotte and I want Aidan to be educated. It is hard work. It is expensive. But it is what Scotte and I know will be best for Aidan's future.

Spring Fever

2011-03-07T20:06:00.004-05:00

I am going to share with you one reason why I am highly anticipating the spring days to come...my kids need to run free...somewhere other than my kitchen!! This is becoming a nightly pre- or post-dinner routine. I long to be able to send them into the backyard. I want to be able to do dishes or cook without risking injury. I thought they might not do it today since we spent an hour at the playground, but I'm afraid it has become a habit. Kids need to run, there is no doubt about that!!

Justin and Katie's Wedding

2011-03-06T18:41:00.008-05:00

I want to send out a giant congratulations to my cousin, Justin, and his new bride, Katie!! We attended their wedding last weekend and I think my kids will have high expectations for all weddings going forward:) It was a beautiful event and the kids will never forget the reception which took place at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History...perhaps the coolest reception venue on earth! As usual, I missed half of the ceremony...because I have three kids who just spent three hours in a car and did not want to sit through an hour long wedding. It never fails. Aidan did a great job but Liam knew something fun was going to happen and decided not to sleep in the car so he was way overdue for sleep. Brendan was so excited and he did not want to be quiet during the ceremony and ended up being taken to the car. Once he was strapped in the car he was asleep in about two minutes. I'm really glad he took a nap before the reception! At least one of my children was well behaved! The kids barely recognized up in dressy clothes:)...a wedding with Bailey's!!! What a treat!! (my mom and my Aunt Bridget, the mother of the groom)A great time was had by all! Aidan spent the reception mesmerized by the guitar player (the band was amazing!!)...my boy needs guitar lessons one day!Liam found a skeleton which he was sure was a shark and that is all he has talked about for days. Every night he says, "Night night bones!" He also wants to look at all of Brendan's skeleton books. Brendan keeps talking about how he got to "dance at the museum with Grammy."

I did not get any good pictures of the room where dinner was served, but I did find one on another website...so, this is not from Justin and Katie's wedding but you'll get the idea...check it out!!I didn't get nearly as many photos as I would have liked to! It's impossible with kids, I swear. I'm not sure how we would have survived without my parents to help. Thanks so much!!

Thanks for a wonderful party and congrats to you, Justin and Katie!!

Brendan at School, etc.

2011-03-02T13:26:00.007-05:00

Yesterday I had Brendan's parent-teacher conference, and I am pleased to report that he is still doing very well. He is so well-behaved at school that it is almost ridiculous. They never have to discipline him. Really? Can they come to my house for a few weeks? Oh, well, he is never really a rotten kid just a little too energetic at times and when he's tired his whining can drive you to madness!! I am glad he is being such a good kid and he plays well with everyone in his class. And he is SUPER smart. It's great to hear! He will be ready for Kindergarten next year! I volunteer in his class on Thursday and I can't wait!

Speaking of Kindergarten, we had Aidan's IEP meeting on Monday. It went well, although we didn't finish the Kindergarten IEP yet! We will finish in May. We opted to write a quick IEP for preschool to use for the next 3 months and finalize for Kindergarten towards the end of the school year. I'm not in the mood to write about it all yet, but I will do so soon! However, we are sure of a couple of things. We know for certain now that Aidan and Brendan will be at the same school, even though we opted to go to a school other than out home school for a variety of reasons which I will talk about in a few days. However, I need some feedback. What would you do? Should we place them with the same teacher or different teachers? I am torn. Part of me knows that Aidan loves to copy Brendan and it would be good for him to have the same homework as Brendan and we could all work on homework, etc. together. Plus, Brendan could tell me things about Aidan at school that I might not otherwise know. However, I don't want Brendan to feel responsible for Aidan or feel like I am using him to get information. I want him to have room to grow and become independent. I want him to have something of his own. Any thoughts????

Okay, I did a really silly thing right before Brendan's conference last night. My contacts were feeling really dry so I ran upstairs before I left to rinse them with some saline. I recently switched to a new contact solution about a month ago called Clear Care. I really like it and it makes my lenses feel really comfortable. Now, the problem is that for the past 22 year I have used a multi-purpose solution that you can squirt on your lenses any time, anywhere. Clear Care is different and contains hydrogen peroxide, so once it touches your lenses you have to neutralize the hydrogen peroxide in a special case for at least 6 hours. Old habits die hard. I wasn't thinking AT ALL and grabbed the Clear Care instead of my bottle of saline. Why I keep them right next to each other I will never know. I rinsed my lens with Clear Care and when it touched my eye I swear it felt like someone was spraying my eyes with molten lava or acid or stabbing me in the eyeball with a knife. Lesson learned. I went to conferences looking like I had pink-eye or some other horrible infectious disease. They probably disinfected the table after I left. Most of the redness was actually gone before I went to bed and today my vision is blurry. If I am still having problems tomorrow I will go to the eye doctor. Just don't ever make the mistake I did!! After it happened I had Scotte Google it for me while I was driving to the school. He found that this has happened frequently when people are travelling and borrow solution from a friend without reading the warnings (the bottle looks almost the same as that of every other solution). Most people did not permanently damage their eyes at least! If you use this stuff be careful, especially if you're new at it and you have habits developed over 2o years!!!

Okay, I can't wait to see Brendan at school tomorrow and I will post some photos and update about our weekend wedding adventure and IEP's a little later. Have a great day!!

Will the real Pap Pap please stand up?

2011-03-01T13:31:00.006-05:00

Liam thinks the following people are his Pap Pap. I think he looks for Pap Pap everywhere since Pap is his favorite person in the whole world...

Even at a wedding reception at 10pm, Liam is happy as long as he is with Pap!!

Today I Learned Something About Down Syndrome

2011-02-23T17:54:00.004-05:00

Somehow this is one of the nicest things I have read in a long time, although it did make me think a bit about something that has been bothering me for awhile. Speech. Some kids (and adults) with Down syndrome DO have speech difficulties. They can be difficult to understand. I know some kids with Down syndrome who have AMAZING speech abilities. Recently, I was with a child who was speaking so beautifully and I overheard another person say to his mom, "Wow, he is so high-functioning." I thought about that comment all day. Now, this particular child functions very well, but I was struck by how easily high functioning was equated with intelligible speech. Speech is very difficult for Aidan; it is most certainly not a reflection of how much he knows and understands. How easily he is judged just by his speech.

Well, that was just an aside, but this story is still a great one.

Today I Learned Something About Down Syndrome
Roger Fallihee

I'm sitting at Starbucks (that's a worldwide chain of coffee shops), checking email, making phone calls, "sipping my triple tall non-fat latte," and thinking about the fact that people with Down Syndrome make me uncomfortable.

My fear is that if I make eye-contact with a Down Syndrome person they will talk to me, I won't understand them, and then I'll feel embarrassed. (Yes Virginia, this phobia is "all about me").

So this particular Starbucks employs a young woman who has Down Syndrome. (I was going say "is afflicted" or "is a victim" of Down Syndrome, but my lack of knowledge of this syndrome leaves me wondering if "afflicted" or "victim" are appropriate descriptions).

The young woman's job is to dust, sweep the floor, clean the display case, bus the tables, and water the plants. She goes about her business with extreme diligence and a broad smile.

So I was sitting there working on a quote for a customer, when my fear became a reality. The relative quiet of the establishment was broken with the words, "So how are you doing today?" I glanced up to see the beaming young woman looking right at me. With a small amount of anxiety I replied, "I'm doing great. How are you?"

It seems impossible but her smile got even bigger. "I'm great too but thank God it's Friday." With that she waved and walked off to continue dusting the Tazo Tea display.

"Thank God it's Friday?" Did she really just say "Thank God it's Friday?" Does that mean that there's a discernible difference between this day and any other day in her life? That perhaps a Saturday spent with family or friends, or by herself, is an appealing alternative to working her shift at Starbucks?

Does this mean that she doesn't just meander her way through the day oblivious to what's going on around her? She has good days and bad days... not just "days?"

I am beyond guilty of not understanding the nuances of life that a person with Down Syndrome experiences. It never occurred to me that she would have a thought like "Thank God it's Friday." I assumed that every day was the same for her and others with Down Syndrome. In my ignorant mind they seem blissfully disconnected from the challenges of day-to-day life.

I realized at that moment that I know nothing about Down Syndrome and I let my fear and assumptions dictate how I would interact with people like her.
She walked back to me, carrying a tray of Dixie Cups. This time I noticed her name tag: Stephanie.

"Would you like to try a Caramel Apple Spice?"

"Sure." She stood, waiting for me to taste the drink. I did. I didn't like it.

"How is it," she asked?

Up until about five minutes ago I would have avoided telling her the truth, fearful that I might hurt her feelings or confuse her.

"Actually Stephanie, it's too sweet for me."

"Yeah, too sweet. I don't like them either." She strolled over to the next customer. "Would you like to try a Caramel Apple Spice?" She points at me. "He thinks they're too sweet."

Stephanie walked back to me with a look of slight embarrassment. "My name isn't Stephanie. It's Amber. I left my apron home and had to borrow Stephanie's."

I'm glad that I met Amber. Maybe now I will ignore preconceived ideas that are based on nothing other than vague, uninformed impressions, and realize that the Ambers of the world, just like me, can't wait until the weekend arrives.

Or maybe I'll just continue to meander through the day, oblivious to what's going on around me. I have a lot more practice doing that.

Other One

2011-02-22T20:13:00.005-05:00

This weeks marks two years since we welcomed our cat, Leo, into our home. I'm not sure what the boys would do without this cat - they are in love with him! That cat has grown tremendously in the last two years. I wanted to tell a story about Liam which involves our two cats, and this seemed like a perfect time to do it to celebrate Leo's second "birthday." Leo is a very friendly, loving cat and always plays with the kids and lets them torture him. He is a perfect cat for little kids. Then we have our sassy old female cat, "Princess." Princess doesn't let the kids touch her, and if they even walk too closely she bolts. And this is where Liam's cuteness comes into play. He hollers with happiness when he sees Leo; he'll yell for the "kitty cat" or "Leo" and chase him and pet him. When he sees Princess he calls her the "Other One." I find myself calling her that as a joke these days. How did my sweet little Princess cat become known as "Other One?" Brendan thinks it's hysterical!

Legos

2011-02-21T19:10:00.003-05:00

This is the first Lego tower that Aidan has ever built. I'm fairly certain that he has been capable of building for several years, but he has never had an interest. One day last week he emptied the box and went to town...It was fun to watch! He picks up a lot of skills just watching his brother(s) do them. It was the same scenario with Go Fish. He watched Brendan and I play about a hundred games, then he just jumped in one day and could play with very little help. I'm curious to see what he will pick up at school next year.

Heart Day

2011-02-18T20:17:00.003-05:00

I guess I'm a little late with this one...There was only one thing Brendan wanted for Valentine's Day: chocolate covered strawberries. So, I caved and when Scotte came back into town on Wednesday after being gone for a few days, I decided to make them for dinner. Yes, dinner, not dessert. You only live once, right? They were so good that I am wondering why I don't make them more often. It's not that hard and I'm going to eat chocolate anyway. So, there might as well be strawberries involved. Brendan was pleased.He was also very excited about making his first Valentine's box. Aidan's class didn't do a box this year; they decorated a bag at school, so he didn't share in the box-making excitement (although he did enjoy writing out Valentines for his school friends). There was no rhyme or reason to Brendan's box, but he made it exactly like he wanted it and couldn't wait to take it to school. They used them all week like mailboxes and wrote letters to each other. He has been bringing home little drawings from a classmate every day since and he loves that!

Heels

2011-02-16T14:26:00.004-05:00

Yes, Aidan, it's hard to walk in heels and they are really uncomfortable. That's why I don't wear them! As you can imagine, Liam tried them on, too, but I was afraid to walk away from him to get the camera. I had some heels out because we are going to a wedding in a couple of weeks and I was planning my wardrobe. I think it's good for the boys to get a glimpse of "girl" every once in awhile!

My mind is so cluttered right now that I have only taken around 12 photos in the last 10 days. I need to get my butt in gear again and get inspired! There is too much to think about at the moment, but I promise the grandmas that I will get better soon and you will see much cuteness...

Disintegration: The Colbert Report

2011-02-15T08:26:00.002-05:00

The Colbert Report
Tags: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Because Stephen Colbert makes me laugh...at a time when I am trying to figure out my son's place in the world and I am wondering what it must have felt like back when children like my own weren't even welcome in a public school.

Disability is Natural

2011-02-14T21:08:00.003-05:00

I'm reading a very thought provoking book at the moment: "Disability is Natural" by Kathie Snow. Have you read it? I wish I had read it 5 years ago!!

I feel as if I should be posting cute pictures on my blog and sharing my adorable children, but at the moment I am focused on paperwork and reading I want to get done in the next few weeks. February 28 is looming and my free time is limited.

Pictures will be coming sometime this week when I take a few minutes to clear my camera. I know you're dying to see the ones of Aidan walking around in my high heels (actually, most of you are probably shocked to know I own a pair!).

Aidan Goes to Kindergarten: Part II

2011-02-11T20:13:00.005-05:00

This week was a completely mentally draining week. We spent 4 hours on Wednesday in meetings to prepare for Aidan's upcoming Kindergarten IEP meeting, but I feel like it may have taken a year off of my life. Really, I'm not kidding. During the last two days I have felt absolutely physically and mentally exhausted. I have been so stressed about this and I have a feeling that I am going to need to get used to this level of stress for a very long time. Scotte knows a woman who told him that the happiest day of her ENTIRE LIFE was when her son, who has disabilities, finished high school. Was the happiest day her wedding day? The days she celebrated the birth of her children? No. It was when her son finished high school. I have a feeling I might be able to relate to this sentiment, but I really hope not! I feel more than just a little crazy whining about things like this. It's just school, right? It is what it is and I need to just go with it. However, I feel like it is my solemn duty to to make the best decisions possible so that Aidan will have a successful future. The only problem is that I know it will be hard to get what I think is best for Aidan, and sometimes I do not think I know what is best. I am tempted to move to another school district where things might be easier.

This week was also filled with visits from Nana, smiley-face pancakes, Thai food, Go Fish, making Valentines with the kids, and all sorts of other fun. But somehow I think I need either a lot more sleep or a few more enjoyable things to fill what has been drained from me by this IEP process.

You may be wondering what we did this week that could have had such an effect. First we visited two possible placement options at two different schools to figure out where we thought Aidan would get the supports he needs during his Kindergarten year of school. We spent about an hour in each room observing and talking to the teacher. The good news is that Scotte and I both had the exact same thoughts about each option and we were in 100% agreement about which option we think will be a good fit for Aidan at this point in time. We are still left deciding if we want to fight for Aidan to have support at our home school or go with the way the school wants to handle things and send Aidan to the school that we ended up liking during our visits. If we fight the battle for our home school I fear we may be focusing too much on principle and what is the right thing to do by law, and perhaps not enough on what will get Aidan the best education and the best supports possible. It appears that at the school we like he will be able to spend most of the day with his assigned Kindergarten class, being pulled out minimally for extra help with things like reading and math. When he is pulled out he will be with with a highly trained intervention specialist with much knowledge about teaching and supporting children with cognitive delays. I felt good about the teacher's philosophy and his truthfulness and I think Aidan will benefit highly from one-on-one interactions with the teachers in that particular cognitive unit. At our home school we would be paving the way and I feel like fighting that particular battle might detract from our real goal of having Aidan fully included with his peers in his Kindergarten class. He will only be successful with a Kindergarten class if he has the proper supports, and I don't want to have to fight the school to create those at our home school. We have an overwhelming number of things to think about in the next few weeks!

We came home from our school tours, fed the kids, then left them with my sister while we went to our second meeting of the day. The meeting was with The Ohio Coalition for the Education of Children with Disabilities. We had a get together with a group of parents mainly from our school district who all have children with Down syndrome or other cognitive delays and had a question-answer session with Colleen Miller, the statewide training coordinator for the organization. I have been reading a lot about IEP's and special education law, etc., but meeting with Colleen was eye-opening. Her answers to our questions were filled with important information that I was not aware of on things such as how to speak to the school representatives at IEP meetings to get what your child needs. I think I could have talked to Colleen for two days instead of two hours. I am usually so exhausted at night that nothing but screaming children will keep me awake. However, I was up half the night pondering the session we had with Colleen. Some of the horror stories we heard would amaze you!

I am hopeful that I will mellow out a little once this first IEP meeting is done and we see how the school district responds to our requests and how Aidan's first year of school goes. Scotte and I have always prepared ourselves for battles that we never ended up fighting. Perhaps this will be such a time. I remain hopeful.

February 28 will be our big IEP meeting (not that we will be signing anything, but that is when the majority of discussion will take place). Send good thoughts (and good ideas) our way!

Game Time!

2011-02-06T20:30:00.002-05:00